Leaf High
by Chibi-Penguin-Chan
Summary: Akimoto is a new girl at the infamous Leaf High. She soon befriends a familiar group of people. Full summery inside. SasuSaku, InoShikaTem, NejiTen, NaruHina, GaaraOC
1. Prolouge

**Welcome to my first _real_ Naruto story (my first being a oneshot). **

**Summery: Akimoto is a new girl at a school that has quite a reputation. She doesn't think that she'll fit in, but she instantly makes a large group of friends, and is quiet happy. However, she soon realizes that this is no ordinary group of people. **

**Pairings: Sasu/Saku, Ino/Shika/Tem, Neji/Ten, Naru/Hina, and I'm not sure about the OC yet.**

**XxX  
****Prologue: Character Descriptions  
XxX**

**Girls:**

**Akimoto**: She is the new girl at the infamous Leaf High School. She has short blonde hair that is always down, and is very friendly. She moved to Leaf High when her mother got transferred, and at first she was not very happy about it. She is exceedingly friendly, but does have a temper at access to weapons.

Age: 15

**Haruno Sakura: **She is the best friend/rival of Yamanaka Ino, and has a huge crush on Uchiha Sasuke. She has pink hair that's tied with a ribbon, and has an unusually large forehead, which Ino reminds her of often.

Age: 15

**Huuyga Hinata: **She is shyest person in all of Leaf High, and often stutters, especially around Naruto. She has pearly white eyes and purple hair. She often plays referee for her friends, mostly Sakura and Ino, and it helps her get over her shyness.

Age: 15

**Sabaku no Temari: **She is the older sister of Gaara. She's usually calm, though can get protective of her brother on occasion. She wears her dirty blonde hair in several ponytails. She doesn't take crap from anyone, especially one Yamanaka Ino who, not unlike Sakura, she has a strong rivalry with.

Age: 18

**Tenten: **She is the tomboy of the group. She gets along well with everyone, which is a very good trait as she is friends with a group of people that are always at each other's throats. She helps Hinata try to keep the peace, but helps out with Naruto and Sasuke more than the she does Sakura and Ino.

Age: 16

**Yamanaka Ino: **She is the beauty queen of the group, with her flowing blonde hair that is always in a high ponytail. She has the ability to finish Sakura's sentences, but also call her 'Forehead-chan' at the same time. She may get into fights with her pink-haired friend, but Temari is who she really hates.

Age: 15

**Boys:**

**Huuyga Neji: **He is the oldest male of the group. His younger cousin is Hinata, and he is very overprotective of her, especially when it comes to a certain blonde boy. He has the same white eyes as his cousin, but has dark brown hair that makes many fangirls wonder just how he keeps it so shiny and smooth looking. He has a horrible temper, which only Tenten seems to be able to help him control.

Age: 16

**Nara Shikamaru: **He is the lazy genius of the entire school. He enjoys cloud watching, and almost everything else he has classified as 'troublesome', including the two bossy blondes that are fighting over him. He has dark hair that is always tied into a ponytail that makes his head look surprisingly similar to a pineapple.

Age: 15

**Sabaku no Gaara: **He is just awesome. He and his sister came to Konoha because of something going wrong in the Suna school district. Exact details are unknown. He has deep red hair and a tattoo on his forehead reading "love".

Age: 15

**Uchiha Sasuke: **He is the heartthrob of the entire school, because of his deep onyx eyes and dark hair that is always spiked. Shouts of 'Sasuke-kun' follow him everywhere, and it is surprising that he hasn't tried to kill the entire female population of the school by now. He manages to keep his emotions to a minimum, but his annoyance and anger are always present.

Age: 15

**Uzamaki Naruto: **He is the loudest member of the group, if not school. He loves ramen, and thinks of almost nothing else. Although he doesn't seem to get along with Sasuke, they are best friends (even thought they'd _never _admit that). He would protect any of his friends without second thoughts (though people do point out often that he probably doesn't have thoughts) and is very caring.

Age: 15


	2. Chapter 1: Introductions

**Disclaimer: I don't own Naruto, but I do kind of sort of own Akimoto… my friend actually came up with her, but I named her! (It's a long story, don't ask)**

**XxX**

**Chapter 1: Introductions**

**XxX**

Akimoto sighed as she looked up at her new school. She hated being the new kid, it wasn't fair! It wasn't right that she had to move away from all of her friends just because her mom got transferred. True, her old house was only two towns away, but this new city was so much bigger, it seemed like a whole other country.

She slowly made her way up the steps to her new school, tucking here short blonde hair behind her ear. She had barely made it up the first step when she tripped over something, or rather someone. "I'm awake!" The person said, looking around to see who had bumped into him.

Akimoto stared at the person in surprise, "Why were you on the ground?"

"Um… I was just--," he was cut off by a loud high pitched yell from somewhere on her right.

"Shikamaru you lazy ass," a girl with long blonde hair tied up in a ponytail yelled.

"Troublesome," the boy, who Akimoto believed to be Shikamaru muttered.

"What was that?" the impatient girl asked irritably.

"Nothing Ino," the boy said, standing up and dusting off his clothes.

"Hi," Ino said, finally acknowledging Akimoto's existence. "I'm Yamanaka Ino, you must be new here," she stuck out her hand and Akimoto shook it and introduced herself.

"I see you already met Shikamaru," Ino said sending a glare in said boy's direction.

"Yeah, I kind of tripped on him," Akimoto said, giving a slight giggle.

"He's kind of lazy, but you get used to him… that is, if you _want_ to get used to him."

Akimoto laughed and Ino led her into the school, where she introduced her to all of her friends. "This is Forehead-chan," she said pointing to a girl with pink hair and bright green eyes.

"It's Haruno Sakura," the girl said glaring at Ino. "Ino-pig is just being a—," exactly what Ino was, Akimoto never heard because Ino choose to continue introducing everyone.

"This is Hinata-chan," she said, a girl with purple hair and pearly white eyes bowed. "And this is Tenten-chan," a girl with dark brown hair tied neatly in two buns shook hands with their new friend. "Everyone, this is Akimoto."

"H-how did you m-meet Ino-chan?" Hinata stuttered.

"I tripped over a boy that was asleep on the front steps and Ino yelled at him," Akimoto explained.

"Shikamaru," the four girls chorused.

"The lazy genius of this school," Ino said shaking her head in disappointment.

"And the love of Ino-pig's life," Sakura continued, earning her a glare and punch in the arm from Ino, though she did blush slightly.

"W-where are the others?" Hinata asked, clearly she was the referee between the two arguing girls.

"I haven't seen them either," Tenten stepped in. "They better not be late for the first day of school!"

"Their not," Ino said, looking over Hinata's shoulder. "Naruto-baka and Neji-san are coming over here. I don't see Sasuke-kun though…"

"He's probably getting attacked by fan girls," said a boy coming up behind Hinata. He had the same eyes as her, but while Hinata seemed shy and passive, this boy seemed more powerful and cold.

"A-Akimoto," Hinata stuttered once again. "This is N-Neji-nii-san and Naruto-kun."

"Hinata-sama and I are cousins," Neji said. Though Akimoto got the feeling he was reminding the boy in orange rather than explaining it to her.

"It's nice to meet you Akimoto-chan," Naruto said, grinning.

"Before you say anything," a cold voice from behind Akimoto said. "Let me warn you that saying that it's nice to meet him as well, would be the biggest lie of your life."

"Shut up Sasuke-teme!" Naruto yelled.

"N-N-Naruto-kun, please don't y-yell in my ear," Hinata said quietly. Akimoto noticed that her stuttering was a lot worse while addressing Naruto.

"And don't yell at Sasuke-kun!" Sakura added, Ino nodding behind her.

"Why does everyone take his side?" Naruto pouted.

"Akimoto, this is Sasuke-kun," Sakura said, ignoring her loud friend completely.

"I've heard that name before," Akimoto said, frowning slightly in concentration. "Uchiha Sasuke?"

"In all his moody glory," Naruto said, still glaring.

"Shut up dobe."

"I heard that we were getting some transfer students," Tenten piped up, trying to avoid an argument between the two boys.

"You mean besides our new friend?" Sakura asked, smiling at the newest addition to their group. Akimoto was so pleased, she was barely at the school for ten minutes and already she'd met eight people, who seemed to consider her a friend.

"Yeah, it was some siblings," Tenten continued.

"You don't think it could be…" Ino started.

"Would they really want to come here?" Sakura asked.

"I heard the town their in wasn't doing so well, maybe the school was closed down," Neji suggested.

"Out of all the places they could have gone…" Naruto said.

"Who are you guys talking about?" Akimoto asked. This was one of the main reason she hated new schools, she felt like such an outcast.

"Guess who's here," Shikamaru said, walking up to the group.

"Is it a-all three of them?" Hinata asked.

"I only saw two of them."

The doors to the school opened to reveal a tall blonde girl, with her hair in many different ponytails, all going in a different direction. Beside her was a boy with cold eyes, which had dark rings around them. The two walked up to the group and the girl began her greetings to everyone.

"I'm Temari," the girl said, sticking out her hand to the unfamiliar girl in front of her. "And this is my brother Gaara," she added nodding to the boy beside her.

"I'm Akimoto, it's nice to meet you both," she said, slightly nervous, but she wasn't sure why.

"I should take Akimoto-chan to the main office to get her schedule," Ino said, her eyes flashing. "Would you like to come along Shika-kun?

Shikamaru muttered a troublesome, but followed Ino as she marched down the hallways, looking angry.

"She doesn't get along well with Temari," Shikamaru whispered to Akimoto. She nodded in understanding, and quickly followed Ino, afraid of her wrath.

**XxX**

**I know it was short, but this is just the first chapter to get mostly everybody introduced. I will be adding more people to the story, but its midnight, and I don't want to type anymore!**


	3. Chapter 2: The Mall

**Just so everyone knows, I won't always be updating the quickly. I'm on vacation right now, and am writing this on a lap tap during an 8 hour car ride. Other chapters probably won't be this long either.**

**Chapter 2: The Mall**

Akimoto sighed as she sat in the back of her math class. She was already great at math, and paying attention was getting harder and harder when she felt that wondering why her teacher was wearing a mask far more interesting. She wanted the bell to ring, this was the last class of the day, and Sakura had mentioned everyone meeting up at the mall to hang out. Akimoto still couldn't believe that she had made such a fun group of friends already, and they all seemed to like her. Although, she wasn't sure about Sasuke, Neji, Shikamaru, and Gaara, but they didn't seem to like much of anything.

She glanced at the clock, and let out a silent breath of relief, she only had two more minutes, and their teacher was already having a debate with one of the students about weather or not there should be homework. Finally the student won and in honor of the first day of school, there would be no assignment, but mostly because the teacher didn't feel like grading it.

The bell rang and the new girl stood up and walked over to Hinata, who was talking to a boy with a sweat shirt, and was trying to hide a small white dog in it. "Hello," the boy said once Akimoto approached them.

"Akimoto, t-this is Kiba-kun and Akimaru-kun." Hinata introduced.

"Are you sure you don't want to hang out, Hinata?" the boy asked.

"I'm s-sorry Kiba-kun, but I'm meeting up with everyone at the m-mall later. I already p-promised I would be there."

The dog boy sighed, "Ok, maybe some other time…" and he walked off.

"A friend of yours?" Akimoto asked, walking down the hallway with her purple haired companion.

"Sort of," Hinata said, playing with her fingers nervously. "He k-keeps asking me out, but, I don't r-really like him that much."

"Besides, you like Naruto," Akimoto said grinning.

Hinata turned a shade of red that seemed almost inhuman, but she nodded slightly anyway. "Is it really that obvious?"

"To everyone except possibly Naruto," Akimoto said, giggling

"To bad Neji-san would kill him if Naruto ever tried to go out with Hinata-chan," Ino said, appearing out of the mob of students, Sakura following her.

"Yet he does nothing to stop Kiba," the pink haired girl said.

"Maybe Neji-san doesn't notice Kiba," Akimoto suggested.

"He does, but he either wants Hinata-chan with him, doesn't like Naruto, or knows that Hinata-chan doesn't like him," Ino said thoughtfully.

"Or all of those reasons," Sakura pointed out.

"Do you guys always finish each other's sentences?"

"When they aren't arguing about something troublesome."

"When did you get here Shika-kun?" Ino asked, choosing to ignore his statement.

"Just now," he said. "But don't worry; I wasn't eavesdropping on your fascinating conversation about Hinata's love life."

"Then how do you know what we were talking about?" Sakura said, her eyes flashing.

"I heard you say Naruto, Kiba, and Hinata. Anyone could figure out what you were talking about… except maybe Naruto and Kiba…" he shrugged.

"You guys make fun of Naruto a lot," Akimoto said as they walked onto the picnic bench outside of the school waiting for the rest of their friends.

"We do, don't we," Sakura said thoughtfully. "It is fun though!"

"What's fun?" said Sasuke, taking a seat beside Sakura.

"Did Sasuke-teme just say the word 'fun'?" Naruto asked, pretending to be in shock.

"Are you guys arguing again?" Tenten asked, taking a seat. "Really, can you go three minutes without getting into a fight?"

"I don't think they can," Shikamaru said, lying on the grass watching the clouds.

"No one asked you, pineapple head," Naruto said glaring at him.

"H-how was your first d-day back, N-Naruto-kun?"

"It was great! I only have to sit through one class with Sasuke-teme!"

Hinata sighed, she thought she could avoid another argument by asking about his day, but the brilliant plan backfired.

"I think I see Neji-san," Akimoto said, coming to her friend's rescue.

"Good, then we can leave this place!" Sakura said, gathering her things. Everyone followed suit and together made their way to the parking lot. "Whose riding with who?"

"Who drove?" Ino asked looking for a familiar car.

"You can't answer my question with a question Ino-pig!"

"Then ask better questions forehead!"

"I drove," Shikamaru said, stepping between the two rivals/friends.

"So did I," Sasuke said, looking around for anyone else's car.

"I got a ride."

"Rode the bus."

"Walked."

"Flew!" Akimoto gave Tenten a weird look because of her statement. "Everyone said something boring," she said smiling.

"I'll give Ino, Hinata, Neji, and Tenten a ride," Said Shikamaru, careful to make sure that most rivals were in separate cars. "Then Sasuke can take everyone else."

Sasuke nodded his agreement, and Sakura called front, and happily climbed into Sasuke's car, followed by Naruto and Akimoto.

"You just had to put me in a car with the dobe," Sasuke said to Shikamaru.

"Would you rather have Neji or Ino?"

"I'll meet you at the mall."

"Sasuke-kun," Sakura said as soon as he was in the car. "Can we stop at my house, I need to drop my school stuff off and grab my purse."

"I'm not stopping."

"Please, Sasuke-kun! I can't buy anything if I don't have my purse."

"I'll buy you whatever you want, but I'm not stopping at your house."

"Anything?"

"Hn."

Sakura let out a small cheer and turned in her seat to face Akimoto and Naruto. "What do you think of our school so far Akimoto-chan?"

"I really liked it; I didn't expect to make so many friends already. People in my old school were never this nice."

"You think Sasuke-teme is nice?"

"He's giving me a ride to the mall," Akimoto said politely. "And being invited to come with you guys was an honor in itself."

"People in your old school must have been really mean then," Naruto said shaking his head. "You're friends didn't even want to hang out with you?"

"They didn't always want me with them. Even then, I didn't make friends until a few weeks after I got there."

"We're here," Sasuke said monotonously. Everyone got out, and went in the air conditioned mall and waited for Shikamaru to arrive.

"What's taking him so long?" Naruto asked, impatient as ever.

"Maybe he got pulled over," Sakura suggested.

"We've only been here for a few minutes, I'm sure he's just being slow," Sasuke said, glaring at a group of girls that looked like they might try to talk to him.

"He's right there," Akimoto said pointing to the pineapple shaped head of Shikamaru.

"Finally," Naruto said over dramatically.

"How long h-have you been here, N-Naruto-kun?"

"Five minutes at the most," Sakura said, resisting the urge to slap her blonde friend upside the head.

"Where should we go first?" Ino asked, looking around eagerly.

"Food court!" Naruto said jumping up in the air, fist raised.

"You had lunch a couple of hours ago," Sakura said, this time hitting him.

"Ouch! That hurt Sakura-chan!"

"Then don't be such a dobe," Sasuke said, walking away in a random direction.

"I'm not a dobe!"

"Come on N-Naruto-kun," Hinata said shyly. "I'll treat you to some ramen."

"Awesome! Let's go Hinata-chan," he said, dragging a red faced Hinata by the hand.

"Neji, take deep breaths," Tenten said, to and enraged Neji. "They are just eating some ramen; it's not like their making out or anything." This just made Neji look like he would explode at any moment.

"Besides, if Naruto as much as tried to put his arm around her, she'd pass out," Shikamaru said.

"Maybe we should follow them in case he does try something," Neji said, glaring at the spot where he had last seen Naruto run off with his cousin.

Tenten shrugged, "I'll go with you if you buy me something to eat."

"Deal and the two walked over to the food court.

"Is he always this overprotective?" Akimoto asked.

"Sometimes it's worse," Sakura said gigging.

"Whenever there's a dance or a party he won't let her out of his sight," Ino added.

"It's a good thing Tenten-chan is there to calm him down, or he might actually kill Naruto," Sakura finished.

"Because that would be a horrible tragedy," Sasuke said, sarcasm dripping from his words.

"Oh no," Ino groaned. "_They_ are here."

"I still don't see why you hate them so much," Shikamaru said, seeing Temari and Gaara walk towards them. "She's actually kind of nice."

"You would think so, wouldn't you!" Ino said accusingly.

"Sasuke-kun, I just saw something I like, way over there," Sakura said, pulling on his arm and walking towards a shop.

"Shika-kun!" Temari said, walking up to the trio.

"Hi."

"What are you guys doing here?"

"We're shopping, what else would we be doing at the mall?" Ino said coldly.

"I was talking to Shika-kun, not you Yamanaka," Temari replied. Shikamaru sighed audibly and muttered a troublesome. "Are you bored with _her_ already, Shika-kun?" Temari said, latching onto his arm. "Let's ditch 'em and go have some fun." She then led him away from the rest of the group, babbling on about something.

"He's not bored with me, he's annoyed with you!" Ino shouted running after them.

"How did this happen?" Akimoto asked, watching the retreating backs of her friends.

"How did what happen?" Gaara asked.

"I came to the mall with a group of eight people, and now they've all ran off somewhere."

"You need better friends then," Gaara said bluntly.

"What about you? Temari ditched you too."

Gaara sighed, "She bugs me anyway, it wasn't that big of a loss."

"This is the first time I've heard you talk," Akimoto said, as the two of them began walking through the crowds of people. "And I have three classes with you."

"Is that a good or a bad thing?"

"I find this a very interesting conversation, so it's a good thing."

"I'd hate to change your mind about that, but I don't even remember your name."

"Then we're even… I've met too many people today; I can't keep names strait either. I'm Akimoto," she reached out to shake his hand.

"Gaara."

"Well Gaara-san, what would you like to do?"

"I could really care less."

"Wow, you sure are strait to the point…" she looked around for something to do. "There's Sakura and Sasuke, let's go see what they're up to." Gaara followed his new friend into a store and watched as an argument unfolded.

"You said you would buy me anything I wanted, Sasuke-kun!"

"And I will, but I refuse to sit down and wait while you try on millions of pairs of clothes."

"But I need you to tell me what looks best on me," Sakura whined.

"Why do you need my opinion?"

"Because I don't want to get it if you think it's stupid."

"You're right Akimoto," Gaara said, looking at Sasuke and Sakura with a bored expression. "We really should have come to see what these two were doing."

"Hello to you too Gaara," Sasuke said, shoving his hands into his pockets and glaring at his pink-haired friend companion.

"Akimoto-chan, don't you agree that Sasuke-kun should help me decide what to buy."

"Of course," Akimoto said. "If he's paying for it, he should at least like the outfit; otherwise he's just wasting his money."

"She has a point," Gaara said, sitting in a nearby chair, and looking for something entertaining to do.

Sasuke sighed, and took a seat next to Gaara and watched as the two girls began going through clothes racks, looking for something that they liked.

"This would look great on you Akimoto-chan," Sakura said pulling up a denim mini skirt.

"I don't have any money on me though," she said, looking at the skirt sadly.

"It's ok," Sakura whispered. "I'll say I'm getting it, Sasuke-kun will buy it, then I'll give it to you later."

"I couldn't do that," Akimoto said glancing at Sasuke. "It wouldn't be right to trick him like that."

"Hmm… when's you're next birthday?" Sakura asked, trying to find a loop hole.

"It was last month."

"Then there's only one way to get this," Sakura said firmly. "SASUKE-KUN!"

"Nani?"

"Will you buy this for Akimoto-chan?"

"How much is it?"

"And when is that ever a problem for the great Uchiha Sasuke-kun?"

"Fine," he said, and continued talking to Gaara.

Sakura squealed in delight and continued looking for something for herself. After picking out a few new pairs of clothes, Sakura was satisfied and walked out of the store, thanking Sasuke for paying for everything.

"I'm hungry Sasuke-kun," Sakura said after she was bored with looking at jewelry, that she would never ask Sasuke to buy for her.

"I'm sorry," he replied, looking at a necklace Sakura had been transfixed with a moment ago.

"Let's go get an ice cream cone!"

Sasuke sighed and followed her out of the store, but not before she gave one last glance at the beautiful trinket.

**XxX**

"We really should find the others," Tenten said to Neji, who was still following his cousin like a hawk.

"We already found two of them," he replied.

Tenten sighed, "Why don't we just walk up to them, and ask if they've seen anyone else, that way you can stop stressing, and it won't look like we've been spying."

He nodded, "Hinata-sama, Naruto!"

The two turned around to see who was calling them, "Hi guys," Naruto said, his arms behind his head in relaxation. "What are you two up to?"

"T-they've been following us," Hinata said. "Ever since we l-left for ramen."

"How did you know that?" Tenten asked, unashamed.

"I didn't, you just told me."

"Nani!"

"I thought I saw you g-guys once or twice, b-but I wasn't sure."

"Oh well," Naruto said, looking through the crowds. "If you think me eating ramen is that entertaining, then that's your business."

"It isn't, but I had to make sure you weren't going to do anything to Hinata-sama."

"And I had to make sure he didn't kill you," Tenten said rolling her eyes.

"Where are the others?" Hinata asked, surprise even herself at her lack of stuttering.

"We haven't seen them," Tenten said, looking over the heads of people to try and find a familiar face.

They began looking in stores that they believed their friends might be in, but didn't have much luck. "Maybe we should get some ice cream," Naruto suggested.

"Good idea," Tenten said, licking her lips. "We really shouldn't split up like this, for all we know poor Akimoto could be lost somewhere without knowing the way around."

"I doubt it, she sticks pretty close to Ino," Naruto said. "I'm not sure how she does it though…"

"I heard that!" Ino snapped, walking up behind them, looking ready to kill someone.

"What's the matter Ino-chan?" Tenten asked, noticing her friend's mood.

"That stupid sand freak kidnapped Shikamaru!"

"What's wrong with sand?" a voice from behind asked.

"I believe she was referring to your sister, Gaara-kun," Akimoto said, contently eating her ice cream cone.

"Besides, from what I saw, he went willingly," Sakura added, adjusting the weight of her many shopping bags.

"No one asked you forehead!" Ino practically screamed.

"It's not my fault you can't seem to tell Shikamaru that you like him, Ino-pig," Sakura yelled back.

"_If_ that were true," Ino said through gritted teeth. "Shikamaru wouldn't reject me half as much as Sasuke-kun does to you, billboard brow."

"At least I have the guts to go after the guy I like, instead of pretending like I don't!"

"Why don't you just--,"

"WILL YOU TWO SHUT UP!" Sasuke, Neji, Naruto, and even some random people yelled.

"Gomen," they both said quietly.

"Let's find Shikamaru, then we can all go home," Tenten said soothingly. "And Ino, if you go into a rant about how he doesn't want to be found, then we'll all leave you here. Understood?"

Everyone nodded and began their search for their last remaining friend. "This is stupid," Naruto said, after they searched the entire mall and still couldn't find Shikamaru.

"Why don't we page him," Sakura suggested.

"He'd yell at us for being troublesome," Ino pointed out, but she paged him anyway.

"Will the lazy ass Nara Shikamaru please report to the information booth?" A giggling voice ran through the speakers of the mall. A few minutes later Shikamaru came up, hands stuffed in his pockets looking around somewhat nervously.

"Hi guys," he muttered, ready to get yelled at, which Ino did.

After scolding him for running off like he did, she then started asking questions, "Where have you been? We looked everywhere! We thought that horrible witch Temari tried to kidnap you and take you far away somewhere and we'd never get to see you're pineapple shaped head again!"

"By 'we' she means her," Neji clarified, while everyone else nodded in agreement.

"Have you seen Temari?" Gaara asked, though he didn't seem to really care. "I want to leave now."

"I… um… was separated from her, about five minutes ago.

"You ditched her?" Ino asked, a little too quickly.

"I wouldn't say ditched…"

"But you did."

"So, who's riding with whom this time?" Shikamaru asked.

**XxX**

**Here's chapter 2! It's the longest chapter I've ever written for anything! 2,872 words and 7 pages! Please review!**


	4. Chapter 3: Regular School Day

**Chapter 3: Regular School Day**

"AKIMOTO-CHAN!" A voice called out from behind said person as she walked to school.

"Ohayo Naruto-kun," she said politely.

"I didn't know you lived around here," Naruto said, catching up and walking down the road with his newest friend.

"You met me two days ago," Akimoto said, giggling. "And Sasuke-kun dropped you off before me yesterday on the way home from the mall."

"That's right," Naruto checked his watch. "Hey, we're going to be late!" Instead of arguing that they had 15 minutes left, Akimoto followed her friend to their school, which was only a five minute walk.

"Ha! I win!" Naruto said proudly as he stepped onto the school grounds.

"What did you win dobe?" Sasuke asked.

"How do you always get here before me teme?" Naruto said pouting as he took a seat next to his dark haired rival.

"I drive faster than you walk," he said simply.

"Maybe I should just give up," Naruto said, a mischievous smile gracing his features. "You obviously want to be here first for some reason. Maybe you're hoping that I won't show up—"

"Finally you're catching on," Sasuke muttered, Naruto glared at him.

"You didn't let me finish, you want me to be late because—"

"Ohayo Sasuke-kun," Sakura said, smiling brightly as she walked up to them.

"Of that," Naruto said grinning ear to ear.

"It amazes me how dumb you are," Sasuke said, but Akimoto saw a small blush on his face as he said it.

"What did he do this time, Sasuke-kun?" Sakura asked, looking confused.

"I just pointed out that he likes to get here early so that--," this clearly wasn't Naruto's day.

"Sasuke-kun!" a random girl said, rushing up to him. "Do you want to sit with me at lunch today?"

"No."

"Please, Sasuke-kun," the girl begged.

"No."

"I packed extra tomatoes, I know they're your favorite," the girl tried.

"Just as a warning," Sakura said, glaring at the girl. "Once he says 'no' the second time, he isn't so nice about it." The girl ignored Sakura as if she was part of the bench she was sitting on, and asked once more for Sasuke to join her. "Don't say I didn't warn you," Sakura said, as she motioned for Akimoto to take a step back.

"I don't get along to well with the dobe here, or Huuga Neji," Sasuke said through gritted teeth. "Ino bugs the hell out of me, and Hinata's constant stuttering, kind of gets on my nerves. If Shikamaru says 'troublesome' one more time, I think I might help Ino smack him, and don't get me started on how annoying Sakura can get. However, I would rather be locked in a small room for the rest of eternity with them, then eat one lunch with an irritating fan girl such as yourself. Now, I believe this is the part where you walk away, broken hearted, and _never_ come near me again."

The girl was stunned, however, she was foolishly persistent, "How do you know you wouldn't have a good time Sasuke-kun? You seem too loath you're so called 'friends' so much, why don't you come hang out with me and my friends instead?"

Sasuke sighed, and looked at Sakura nodding to the annoyance in front of him. Sakura grinned as she walked up to the girl, "Let's go on a walk, shall we," it was more of an order than a request.

Sakura left, and didn't return until Ino, Tenten, Neji, and Hinata had arrived. "That girl was stronger than she looked," Sakura said, taking a seat next to Sasuke. "She bit my arm!"

"Who bit your arm?" Tenten asked, inspecting the wound. Sasuke and Sakura exchanged dark looks. "Not another one!" Tenten said, shaking her head sadly.

"She didn't take the warning?" Ino asked a slight laugh in her voice.

"I warned her," Sakura said. "Then Sasuke-kun gave her a speech about how much he loathed her, and then she asked again!"

"Did you beat her into a pulp?" Neji asked, amusement written all over his face. Sakura didn't answer, but her silence spoke louder than any of her words could have. The bell rang and they all made their way into the school, and separated to go to each of their lockers.

**At lunch:**

"Sasuke-kun, would you like to eat with us today?" A group of girls asked, coming up to the table that Sasuke was already sitting at, eating his lunch contently.

"Wow, I didn't know there were so many girls that had no dignity at this school," Akimoto said.

"And who are _you _supposed to be?" the leader of the group asked rudely.

"She's my friend," Sasuke said, glaring at the girls. "And if you want to speak with me, you first have to get the approval of her, then Sakura, and if by some miracle Sakura approves, then you may speak with Naruto. Afterwards, you are free to address me without being shoved into a dumpster by whoever is feeling bored at the moment."

"But last year we only had to speak with Sakura and Naruto," one of the girls from the back said.

"There's a problem with that," Naruto said, finishing his ramen. "You already know the rules, therefore in about two, maybe three minutes you will all be soaked." And with that Ino came up from behind them and poured a bucket of water over each and every one of the pathetic girls.

"Are you always this mean to them?" Akimoto asked, watching the girls walk away, some of them in tears others muttering death threats.

"Not all the time," Tenten said. "But if we let them get away with bugging us at the beginning of the year, then they are too much to handle, so for the first week we play pranks on them."

"They're kind of like rodents that way," Sakura added.

"What you saw this morning was actually very nice of us," Naruto said, eating the rest of Hinata's lunch.

"Would you really throw them in the dumpster?"

"Only to improve the smell," Neji said, though the way he was glaring at Naruto, it was obvious he was thinking of doing the same to him. Tenten whispered something in the glaring boy's ear, and he relaxed a little.

"Why do you think Shika-kun didn't make it to school today?" Ino asked.

"Why do you care if he didn't show up?" Sakura asked, smiling innocently at her friend.

"Maybe Temari kidnapped him!" Ino said, ignoring Sakura. "She wasn't here today either…"

"That's because she overslept, and I didn't feel the need to wake her up," Gaara said, walking up to the table. "You dropped this," he added handing a notebook to Akimoto.

"Arrigato Gaara-kun," Akimoto said, blushing ever so slightly. "You didn't read it, did you?" he shook his head. "Not that it matters, it's just notes," she said quickly.

"For what class?" Ino asked.

"Because I feel asleep today, I might need to borrow them," Sakura added.

"It was in the science class room," Gaara said, still standing.

"You can sit down," Akimoto offered.

"Yeah," Tenten said. "We'd hate to make you stand when there's plenty of room."

"There's even an empty seat," Ino started.

"Beside Akimoto," Sakura to finished.

"It's scary when you two do that," Naruto said.

"Watching you eat is even scarier," they both said simultaneously.

"Were you guys twins separated at birth?" Tenten asked in amazement.

"I don't have an overly large forehead," Ino said simply.

"And I my hair isn't a boring color," Sakura said, glaring at her 'twin'.

"Blonde isn't a boring color," Naruto, Ino, and Akimoto said at the same time. "And twins can look different then each other," Akimoto added.

"But no that different," the two girls chorused once again. "Stop doing that!" they glared at each other.

"They're really good at that," Gaara observed.

"I've seen real twins that couldn't finish each other's sentences and speak at the same time," Sasuke mentioned. "Though, they didn't look as different in appearance."

"See, Sasuke-kun agrees with us," Sakura said happily. "We look to different to be twins."

"You still act like it though," Neji said.

"We argue way too much," Ino said simply.

"End of conversation," Sakura added.

"Mostly because the bell's going to ring in about thirty seconds," Tenten muttered under her breath. "Before I forget," she added so everyone could hear her. "I'm throwing a part this weekend, you guys are all invited, that is, if you want to come."

"Sounds like fun to me."

"Hn."

"I l-look forward to it."

"I'll defiantly be there!"

"I'll make it."

"I'd love to come, Tenten-chan!"

"Is it a sleepover? For the girls I mean," Ino asked.

"I haven't really planned it out that much, it could be, if you guys want it to be." All the girls eagerly nodded and Tenten beamed. "A sleepover it is then!"

**XxX**

**Short compared to my other chapter, but I'm out of ideas… So, any suggestions? Comments? Words of wisdom? Words without much wisdom? Doesn't matter, just please review! **


	5. Chapter 4: Tenten

**Chapter 4: Tenten's Party**

"I still don't see why you're stressing about this party," Sakura said as she helped Tenten set up. "It's just going to be us, right?"

"Well… I might have invited a few more people…"

"How few?" Sakura asked, giving Tenten a side glance.

"Um… well… a couple girls from my math class, this really cute guy from history and he's bringing two of his buddies, the guy who has a locker next to mine…" she listed some more people, making Sakura glare slightly at her. "But not all of the people gave me a defiant yes," she added quickly. "And I didn't give any of the other girls permission to stay the night."

"Sasuke-kun and Neji-san are going to hurt you," Sakura said shaking her head.

"Why would that be?"

"You invited girls, and they're probably fan girls of Sasuke-kun's, and he and Neji-san don't like crowds anyway."

"You're right!" Tenten said, slapping her forehead. "I completely spaced it. They'll hate me for forever!"

"Neji-san is incapable of hating you, Tenten-chan," Ino said, coming out of the kitchen, carrying a large plate of snacks.

"Plus, Sasuke-kun considers you a friend," Sakura said reassuringly. "That's rare, so I'm sure he won't hate you… for that long…"

"Thanks," Tenten said sarcastically.

"Anytime," Sakura said grinning. "When is everyone else getting here anyway?"

"I told people to start showing up at around 8:30," she said glancing at the clock. "They'll start getting here in 15 minutes! I'm not even dressed yet!"

"Calm down Tenten-chan," Ino said placing a comforting hand on her friend's shoulder.

"You go upstairs and get changed, and Ino-pig-chan and I will finish everything down here." Sakura said as the doorbell rang, stressing Tenten out even more.

"People are already showing up? This place isn't near ready!"

"It's just Akimoto-chan," Sakura said, coming back into the room. "She said she thought she came early to help out some."

"Thank you so much," Tenten said running into her bedroom. "I'll be down in a second!" The three girls began to finish setting out snacks on the table and started arguing over which music to play. Tenten came back out a few minutes later and tried to stop the fight before it could get any worse. Apparently Akimoto was ignored whenever she tried to break up the ongoing argument between her friends.

"Is that Shikamaru with Temari?" Tenten asked, never really looking around.

That shut Ino up, "Where? Where are they?"

"I have no idea," Tenten said, smirking. "But nothing else would make you two stop arguing."

"I don't understand why you guys fight so much," Akimoto said, picking up the pillows that Sakura and Ino had started beating each other with. "How is it possible to fight with someone and complete their sentences at the same time?"

"Oh, you haven't seen the best thing that they do," Tenten said grinning. "They have somehow managed to have entire conversations, saying only two words at a time."

"We don't do that that often," Sakura said.

"Only on very rare occasions…" Ino said, trying to remember the last time they had managed to do that. "I think the last time was about four years ago."

"Four and a half," Sakura corrected her. "It was when we were at the mall, and we were trying to decide on what outfit to pick out."

The door bell rang shortly afterwards, and Tenten ran to answer it, muttering about how they weren't near ready, and the party would be a disaster. "I'm still not sure why I decided to throw this party," she said coming back into the main room, Naruto following her.

"It will be a great party Tenten-chan," Sakura reassured her. She turned to Naruto and shook her head in disappointment, "You just had to bring ramen didn't you?"

"Of course Sakura-chan," he said excitedly. "It isn't a party without ramen, not that this party wouldn't be spectacular anyway," he quickly added at one look from Tenten.

"I just realized something," Ino said.

"That you're a pig?" Sakura asked, smirking.

"What was that forehead?" She said, glaring at her best friend and completely forgetting what she was going to say before.

"I said that you're a pig," Sakura said slowly as if she was talking to someone who couldn't hear very well.

"And you have a forehead you should rent for advertising space!"

"I'd rather have a big forehead then weigh more than Chouji!"

"Oh, I just remembered," Tenten said, looking at Akimoto. "There's another room in this house, far, far away from them." Akimoto laughed and followed her friend out of the room, though they could still hear shouts of 'pig' and 'forehead' every so often.

"They really need some better insults," Akimoto said, as she waited for more people to arrive.

"They don't really want to insult each other, so they just say the same thing over and over again so that they won't do anymore emotional damage to each other," Tenten explained. "Though, they have both caused themselves a large amount of mental damage…" she shrugged and got up to get the door as a few more people walked in, none of which Akimoto recognized.

Hinata and Neji showed up, and by then Tenten and Akimoto decided it was safe to go back into the room where they had left Ino and Sakura unattended. When they got there they were pleased to find that both of them were still alive, and neither were speaking to each other at them moment, so their arguing wouldn't be a problem for a while.

"Sasuke-kun should have been here by now," Sakura complained.

"Shika-kun's late too," Ino said, flopping down on the couch beside her fellow whiner. "You don't think they'd skip out on the party, do you?"

"Neji-san showed up, they should have too!"

"Neji-san only showed up to keep an eye on Hinata-chan and Naruto-baka."

"And because"

"We all know"

"Except maybe"

"She doesn't?"

"Not sure"

"She has to"

"But he hides it"

"Extremely well…"

"Almost too well…"

"But we know"

"We're smart"

"So is she…"

"This," Tenten said, turning to Akimoto and Hinata, "is the infamous two word conversation of Ino-chan and Sakura-chan. They both seem to know exactly what the other is thinking, so they only need to say a few words, and they aren't the least bit confused. However, everybody else thinks they look like strange doing it, because no one else has the slightest idea what is going on in their little heads." Akimoto and Hinata laughed as Ino and Sakura glared at her.

"I thought you guys said you didn't do that anymore," Akimoto said innocently.

"We said that we hadn't done it in a while," Sakura corrected her.

"That doesn't mean we can't still manage it."

"Who were you t-talking about?" Hinata asked.

"We can't tell you," Ino said, exchanging looks with Sakura.

"He might get mad," the pink haired girl added.

"Then again…"

"He never said that we couldn't…"

"Though, he never told us anyway."

"Should we tell?" Sakura asked, looking at Ino, who looked thoughtful for a moment.

"We might want to wait until everyone else is gone."

"Sasuke-kun you came!" Sakura said suddenly, jumping off the sofa and running over to her dark haired crush.

"Did Shika-kun come with you?" Ino asked, looking over his shoulder.

"Hn."

"What does that mean?" Shikamaru said, coming out from a crowd of people.

"Hn."

"You both made it!" Sakura and Ino exclaimed happily.

"You were late though," Tenten pointed out. "I don't think Gaara is coming either."

"He doesn't seem like the kind of person who would have come anyway," Sakura said, patting her friend on the shoulder. "He seems really antisocial, even worse than Sasuke-kun and Neji-san."

"He talks to Akimoto though," Ino pointed out, grinning.

"He does," Hinata said shyly. "He n-never talks to anyone else. And he brought Akimoto-chan her notebook."

"That's true, and he was hanging out with her at the mall," Sakura said giggling.

"Do we have to be part of this conversation?" Sasuke asked.

"You know you're having a blast Sasuke-teme," Naruto said coming over and leaning against the couch beside Hinata.

"Shouldn't you be eating ramen or making Hinata pass out dobe?"

"Sasuke-kun, walk with me," Sakura said leading him away from the group to stop him from embarrassing Hinata anymore then he already had.

"I don't make you pass out, do I Hinata-chan?"

"Hinata-chan, weren't you going to show me that thing?" Ino said, grabbing her friend's arm and following Sakura's retreating back. Hinata mouthing a thank you.

"What just happened here?" Naruto asked, looking around confused as ever. Everyone merely shook their head and began walking away from him.

**Later:**

"See you later," Tenten called as the last of her guests (besides the ones who would stay overnight) left. She then walked back to the main room and collapsed on the well used couch. "I'm glad that's over."

"You through a great party Tenten-chan," Akimoto said, taking a seat next to her. "Everyone had a great time."

"And the fun part is just beginning," Ino said, a sly grin on her face. "Now it's time for a little game."

"P-please say it's not truth or dare," Hinata said, looking slightly pale.

"Gomen Hinata-chan," Ino said, taking a seat on a nearby chair. "But that's what we're going to play, and if you refuse…"

"Then Ino-chan and I won't tell you what we were talking about earlier," Sakura finished.

"What, no 'pig'?" Tenten asked in mock surprise.

"Don't ruin the moment," Sakura snapped. "Who's first?"

"I'll ask Tenten first," Ino volunteered, Tenten said she wanted truth and Ino got into a comfortable position where she could clearly see her victim's face. "Do you like Neji-san?"

"He's my best friend," she answered calmly, clearly prepared for any question Ino would throw at her.

"I mean, as more than a friend."

"I think that a 'best friend' would kind of surpass 'friend' though there isn't much of a difference," she retorted.

"Ok, let me phrase it this way," Ino said, getting quickly annoyed. "If he asked you out on a date, would you say yes?"

"That's another question," Tenten said, turning towards Sakura. "Truth or dare?"

"Truth," Sakura said uncertainly.

"Hmm… Well, we already know that you like Sasuke, so that won't work… Oh, I've got it! Do you honestly hate it when Rock Lee confesses his 'undying love' for you?"

Sakura stared at her friend in shock, Ino shook her head, and Akimoto couldn't have been more confused. "Who's Rock Lee?" Ino muttered something about being lucky that she didn't know who he was.

"It is a nice change to get attention," Sakura said finally. "But Lee-san creeps me out! I mean, have you seen his eyebrows?" Ino and Tenten shuttered.

"My turn!" Sakura said, looking for the next person to interrogate. "Hmm… how about… Akimoto-chan, truth or dare?"

"Truth."

"I wanted you to choose dare," Sakura pouted. "I'm not sure what to ask for truth… Oh, I've got it! Do you like Gaara-kun?"

"I changed my mind, I choose dare!"

"To late," Ino and Sakura said with their creepy 'twin' powers.

"Um… I don't really know him that well," Akimoto said, wishing she had thought the game through as thoroughly as Tenten had. "But he seems nice…"

"She likes him," Ino, Sakura, and Tenten said.

"It's nothing to be ashamed of, Akimoto-chan," Hinata said reassuringly.

"Hinata-chan just said a full sentence without stuttering," Ino said in awe.

"She has been getting better at it," Sakura said, but she too looked surprised.

"Anyway," Akimoto said, after giving her friend a pat on the back. "Ino-chan, truth or dare?"

"Dare," she said confidently.

"I dare you to go a whole day, not today because it's almost over, without calling Sakura-chan anything with the word 'forehead' in it."

"I should have chosen truth," she muttered. "Let's see here, Hinata-chan, truth or dare?"

"D-dare," she said, looking extremely nervous.

"I dare you to give Naruto a hug the next time we see him," Ino said, looking very proud of herself. "And you can't run away afterwards."

Hinata looked like she might pass out, but nodded and continued with the game anyway. "Sakura-chan, t-truth or dare?"

"Truth," she replied happily.

"What were you and Ino-chan t-talking about earlier?"

"Oh, we did say we'd tell you guys, didn't we? Well, we were discussing how Neji-san had a crush on this girl, but he hid it very well, and even though she was smart, we didn't think that she knew… maybe she isn't so smart…"

"She is," Ino said. "She's just not smart in that particular area of knowledge."

"Great sentence Ino-chan," Tenten muttered sarcastically.

"Why thank you," Ino said glaring at her sardonic friend.

"You still aren't telling us who Neji-nii-san has a crush on," Hinata pointed out.

"I thought it was obvious," Ino said, playing with her hair.

"Yeah, if Ino-pig-chan can figure it out, it has to be obvious."

"Shut it forehead. You guys honestly don't know?"

"I know," Akimoto said. "It is pretty obvious, I mean, no one else can calm him down, and she even stopped him from killing Naruto-kun a couple of times."

Comprehension dawned on Tenten's face, and she instantly started shaking her head. "No!"

"Oh, but he does Tenten-chan," Ino said smirking. Tenten tried to say something back, but just ended up stuttering some incoherent 'words'. "Wow, Hinata-chan is getting better at not stuttering, and now you've started."

"Ino-pig-chan and Akimoto-chan are right," Sakura said, grinning widely. "He does only seems to be calm and… well, if you can call it happy, around you."

"B-b-but n-no," she stuttered.

"He does, get over it," Ino, Sakura, and Akimoto said, while Hinata nodded in agreement.

"What about Akimoto-chan and Gaara?" Tenten asked suddenly, clearly wanting to change the subject. "He acts different around her!"

"Don't change the subject," Akimoto said, turning a bright shade of red.

"She's right though," Sakura said in a sing-song voice. And this is how the rest of the night went, they would tease each other, Ino and Sakura fought, Hinata managed to not stutter as much, Ino went on a rant about how Temari was from hell, and they made a few prank calls (which would have been better if Ino had remembered that Shikamaru had caller ID).

**XxX**

**And there's chapter 4! I would like to thank everyone who reviewed, and especially Girl of 1000 Loves and Mustard-Gal for being the first to review! Also, Girl of 1000 Loves for sending me muffins, cookies, and pie! Please review!**


	6. Chapter 5: Beach Trip

**This chapter is dedicated to 'Girl of 1000 Loves' and 'Loli's Crazy Journey' because it was their ideas! **

**I have two little notes before I start the chapter. 1) This story is AU, so Itachi didn't kill Sasuke's parents, but Sasuke still hates him. 2) I don't know if they have beaches in Naruto, but if they have a village of water, and another of sand, they have to have a beach somewhere! **

**Disclaimer: I don't own Naruto or the song 'Your Horoscope for Today'.**

**XxX**

**Chapter 5: Beach Trip**

**XxX**

The next two weeks of school went by slowly, and nothing much really happened. Akimoto had gotten used to everyone being mean to the fan girls, and she even joined in sometimes. Gaara and Temari started hanging out with the group more (much to Ino's dislike), Hinata's stuttering got much better (she did do her dare from the party, but afterwards she resembled a tomato she was blushing so hard). For three days after the party, Tenten had a hard time looking at Neji, but things were back to normal soon.

However, these two weeks of 'normalness' seemed to bother Sakura. "I'm bored!" she said loudly one day. They were currently hanging out at Sakura's house, and were flipping through the channels of the TV.

"And ugly," Ino muttered under her breath.

"We should go somewhere," Sakura said, choosing to ignore Ino.

"Where? There's not really anything to do around here," Tenten pointed out.

"Exactly, there's nothing to do around here, so we should go somewhere fun! Somewhere that we haven't been in a while… but where…?"

"The beach," Akimoto suggested.

"Yeah, that's a great idea!" Sakura said excitedly.

"Oh goodie we get to spend an entire day sitting down getting sand in our clothes and getting sun burnt," Sasuke said sarcastically.

"Shut up teme," Naruto said nudging his friend.

"I don't see what the problem is," Gaara said. "If you're afraid of a sun burn then just bring sun screen, and there is nothing wrong with sand."

"See, Gaara-kun thinks it's a good idea," Akimoto said. She and the other girls started planning their trip while the boys just stood there and watched in boredom.

"Why did you agree with them?" Shikamaru asked Gaara.

"Because it was Akimoto's idea," Neji said calmly.

"You like Akimoto-chan?" Naruto asked.

"He likes her as much as Hinata likes you, dobe," Sasuke answered.

"Nani?"

"Naruto, you're stupidity amazes me," Shikamaru said, lying on the ground and attempting to take a nap.

"I'm confused," Naruto said, rubbing his head.

"Sasuke-kun," Sakura said approaching the group of boys. "Do you want to go with us?"

"Hn."

"Please Sasuke-kun," Sakura said, knowing only to well that particular 'hn' meant no. "We all want you to go," she paused to glare at Neji, as if daring him to say something. "I promise you'll have a good time."

"How can you make that promise?" Sasuke asked. "How do you know I won't have a horrible time?"

"Has he always been this pessimistic?" Akimoto asked.

"Hai," everyone said.

"I won't bug you for a week if you go with us," Sakura tried.

"I'm not going," Sasuke said flatly.

"Maybe we should just invite Itachi instead…" Sakura said nonchalantly.

"I'll drive."

"Hurray for Sasuke-kun!" Ino, Sakura, and Akimoto yelled.

"I said I would go," Naruto pouted. "How come people don't cheer for me?"

"They were silently cheering, N-Naruto-kun," Hinata stuttered, Naruto accepted the answer and called shotgun in Sasuke's car.

"I said I would go," Sasuke said, his left eye twitching. "But I _refuse_ to have the dobe in my car."

"How troublesome," Shikamaru muttered. "I'll take my car too, as long as Sakura and Ino aren't both in there."

"I'm riding with Sasuke-kun," Sakura said excitedly.

**At the beach:**

"We should come here more often," Naruto said stretching out on a large beach towel. "It's really fun here!"

"Naruto's right," Ino said. She was building a sandcastle with the other girls.

"For the first time," Sakura added.

"In history."

"The world is coming to an end."

"It hasn't already?"

"It has, but now it's official."

"Why did it end the first time?" Tenten asked, interrupting their 'fascinating' conversation.

"They both were forced to agree with Naruto about how coming to the beach in the first place was a good idea," Akimoto answered simply.

"How did you know that?" Ino and Sakura asked. Akimoto just smiled and put a small toy flag on top of the now completed work of art.

Sakura sighed, "Now what are we going to do?"

"You could take a long walk off a short cliff," Neji muttered.

"I have a better idea," Akimoto said, grinning and pulling out a magazine.

"Please tell me you're not going to make us play some sort of weird game or quiz," Tenten said looking at the magazine a worried look on her face.

"No, I'm going to tell you your horoscopes," she said, trying her best not to laugh. "What is everyone?"

"I'm a Libra," Ino said excitedly.

"Ok," Akimoto said looking down the list. "'A big promotion is just around the corner for someone much more talented that you. Laughter is the very best medicine, remember that when your appendix bursts next week.'" Everyone laughed.

"It does not say that!" Ino said, trying to grab the magazine out of Akimoto's hand. Naruto was turning bright red he was laughing so hard. "You're a Libra too Naruto-baka!" He stopped laughing.

"It does say that," Akimoto said; she looked at the list once again. "Neji-san, Sasuke-kun, please tell me neither of you are a Sagittarius."

"I'm a Cancer," Sasuke said calmly. **(A/N: just like me!)**

"Ok, 'The position of Jupiter says you should spend the rest of the week face down in the mud. Try not to shove a roll of duct tape up your nose while taking your driver's test.'"

"I've already taken my driver's test," Sasuke said, while trying to avoid Naruto who decided that sand was close enough to mud.

"Neji, what about you?" Akimoto asked, truly fearful that he might be a Sagittarius. He refused to tell her.

"Neji-kun is a Gemini," Tenten said glaring at her best friend.

"'Your birthday party will be ruined once again by your explosive flatulence. Your love life will run into trouble when your girlfriend **(A/N: not real lyric, I changed it to fit their age group)** hurls a javelin through your chest.'"

"What magazine is this?" Sakura asked between laughs.

"I'll tell you later," Akimoto answered. "What are you Sakura-chan?" Sakura replied that she was an Aries. "' The look on your face will be priceless when you find that forty pound watermelon in your colon. Trade toothbrushes with an albino dwarf, then give a hickey to Meryl Streep.'"

"I'm scared," Tenten said, "And a Pisces."

Akimoto grinned, "This fits you perfectly Tenten-chan, 'Try to avoid any Virgos or Leos with the Ebola virus. You are the true Lord of the Dance, no matter what those idiots at work say.' So dance, Tenten-chan, dance you're heart out!"

"And what are you Akimoto-chan?" Tenten asked as everyone else got weird looks by anyone near them, they had just reached a new level of loudness with all of their laughing. Even Neji and Sasuke were cracking up! Akimoto muttered that she was also a Pisces.

"What are you Hinata-chan?" Sakura asked grinning.

"C-Capricorn," she said, she was a lot paler the she normally was.

"I am too," Gaara mentioned.

"Oh, that's too bad," Akimoto said sympathetically. "This one's kind of mean 'The stars say that you're an exciting and wonderful person, but you know they're lying. If I were you, I'd lock my doors and windows and never never never never never leave my house again.' But don't take it seriously!"

"Shika-kun is a day older than me, but he's a Virgo," Ino said.

"'All Virgos are extremely friendly and intelligent - except for you. Expect a big surprise today when you wind up with your head impaled on a stick.' But he's a genius… so I'm not sure how that works out. Who's next?"

"I'm a Leo," Temari said.

"'Now is not a good time to photocopy your butt and staple it to your boss's face. Eat a bucket of tuna-flavored pudding, then wash it down with a gallon of strawberry Quik.'"

"I could make you the pudding," Ino offered, grinning evilly.

"That's everyone," Sakura said. "Now you have to tell us what these are from!"

Akimoto grinned and held up the magazine page she was on. It turns out, she had simply taped a piece of paper on the inside of the back cover and read it. "It's lyrics to a song," she explained. "I got it off the Internet last night and thought it would be funny for you guys to hear it! It's too bad no one was an Aquarius though. 'There's travel in your future when your tongue freezes to the back of a speeding bus. Fill that void in your pathetic life by playing Whack-A-Mole seventeen hours a day.'"

"I can see why you were afraid of someone being a Sagittarius," Ino said, taking the piece of paper and reading it. "'All your friends are laughing behind your back (kill them). Take down all those naked pictures of Ernest Borgnine you've got hanging in your den.' Neji-san and Sasuke-kun would probably go through with it."

"I like Taurus," Sakura said, reading over Ino's shoulder. "'You will never find true happiness - what you gonna do, cry about it? The stars predict tomorrow you'll wake up, do a bunch of stuff, and then go back to sleep.'"

"No way," Naruto said reading the lyrics for himself. "Scorpio is the best, you can't get much better than 'Get ready for an unexpected trip when you fall screaming from an open window. Work a little harder on improving your low self-esteem, you stupid freak.' That's priceless!"

"Are you sure you're not a Scorpio?" Sasuke asked, smirking. "You are a stupid freak."

"Shut up teme!"

"Why don't we go swimming," Tenten suggested to her female friends. "These two will be arguing for awhile."

"Great idea Lord of the Dance-chan," Sakura said giggling.

"I'll help you dunk her," Ino whispered to Tenten. Tenten laughed and mouthed a thank you.

"Where are they going?" Shikamaru asked watching the girls walk off.

"Tenten said something about swimming," Neji answered. "So that would be my best guess."

"We should follow them," Naruto said suddenly. "They have to go get changed, and when they are, they'll talk about stuff, maybe even us!"

"I'm still not seeing why we should follow them," Shikamaru said, gazing at the clouds.

"Don't you want to know what they think about you?" Naruto asked, staring at his friends in disbelief.

"I already know," Sasuke said irritably. "Why would I want to follow them and get accused of eavesdropping?"

"Because if they get annoyed with you, they might stop talking to you," Naruto tried. Still nothing, "And I think I heard Tenten and Akimoto-chan talking about liking Itachi. And Sakura said something too… what was it?" He had done it; he had managed to get Neji, Gaara, and Sasuke to agree with him by simply making up a story.

"I'm in."

"Let's go."

"You're coming to Shikamaru."

"Troublesome."

And so Naruto led his friends over to where he had seen his female friends walking. "There they are!" he said pointing over to a changing room, the boys were in luck, the place echoed.

"So Akimoto-chan, do you still have that magazine?" They heard Sakura say.

"Why?"

"I wanted to see if there were any of those quizzes that Tenten-chan was so afraid of."

"Oh, yeah, there's tons in there," Akimoto said. "Are you looking for anything in particular?"

"Um… well… is there anything about how to tell if the guy you like… does like you he just doesn't show it?"

"Don't we all want to know," Ino's voice sounded.

"Everyone except Hinata-chan," Tenten said. "We all know the guy she likes couldn't hide his emotions if his life depended on it!"

"Hinata-chan likes someone?" Naruto whispered, everyone who heard him sweat dropped.

"It's too bad he's such a baka," Temari was heard. "Everyone else knows that you like him, but he's to dense to realize it."

"Why does Hinata-chan like a baka?" Naruto whispered, causing his friends to fall anime style.

"Well, Kakashi-sensei did say he was the number one student at surprising people, so maybe one day he'll get smarter and come to his senses," Sakura's voice echoed.

"Why does that sound familiar?"

"She likes you, dobe!" Sasuke hissed.

"She does?" It's a shame that Naruto was the person who wanted to eavesdrop, and he was knocked unconscious before he could hear anymore of what was said.

"What about you Tenten-chan?" Ino asked. "What's up with you and Neji-san?"

"I've told you a million times, there is nothing going on!"

"And we've told you a million times," Sakura said. "You're lying and we know it!"

"I'm not lying!"

"Yes you are," Ino said in a final matter.

"I agree with Tenten," Temari said. "There isn't anything going on."

"Thank you for agreeing!"

"Don't thank me yet, I'm not done," Temari said, the boys could practically see her smirking. "There isn't anything going on, but that doesn't mean you don't want there to be."

"I think Temari-san has a point," Hinata said.

"You can drop the san."

"Can we drop the conversation?" Tenten asked hopefully.

"Only if we can question Ino-pig," Sakura said playfully.

"You have nothing to question me about," she said flatly.

"What's new with Shikamaru?" Sakura asked. Shikamaru suddenly felt pleased that he had choose to let the others drag him along, though he didn't show it.

"He's in love with me," Temari said, they heard Ino growl.

"No he isn't!"

"Yes he is!"

"Is not!"

"Is to!"

"He doesn't even like you as a friend!"

"He likes me more than he'll ever like you!"

"That's a lie and you know it!"

"It is not a lie and you know it!"

"Wow, Shikamaru," Sasuke said turning to his lazy friend and smirking. "How's it feel to have girls fighting over you?"

"Like it doesn't happen to you every day."

"It does, but with girls who I don't know, or want to for that matter. But we hang out with these ones."

"Shh," Neji said. "They stopped yelling, they're going to hear you."

"I thought you said you didn't like Shikamaru, Ino-chan," Tenten said.

"Yeah, Yamanaka you said you didn't like him."

"I can change my mind," she spat out, but there was instantly a sound of a someone being slapped. "I did not just say that," Ino's voice came out muffled, she had apparently clapped her hand over her own big mouth as soon as she realized what she had said.

"She admitted it!" Sakura's excited voice rang out. "Now all we have to do is convince Tenten-chan and Akimoto-chan to do the same!"

"I. Am. Not. Going. To. Admit. That. I. Like. Neji." Tenten said forcefully.

"You just did," Akimoto pointed out.

"No I didn't."

"Yeah, you said that you weren't going to admit it, you never denied it," Akimoto said simply.

"Go look at a picture of Gaara," Tenten muttered, but her voice was clear anyway.

"I don't have a picture of Gaara!"

"Yes you do," Sakura said. "It's a group photo, but it has him in it nonetheless."

"Sasuke-kun and Naruto-kun are in that picture too, that doesn't mean I like them."

"But you do like Gaara," Ino said.

"Weren't we going to go swimming?" Akimoto said, not answering the question.

"Yeah, let's go," Hinata said.

The boys barely had time to get into a decent hiding spot before the girls burst out of the room, and began their way to the ocean. This would have gone a lot faster if all of them weren't in shock… or maybe it was because they had to drag Naruto's body and he was heavier then he looked… one of the two!

**XxX**

**Ok, a few things I want to say, 1)'Girl of 1000 Loves' and 'Loli's Crazy Journey'****get an extra big thank you for helping me get ideas for the story. 2) The song that was mentioned is called 'Your Horoscope for Today' by Weird Al. For a cute little video on this song search 'Your Horoscope for Today' on youtube .com and a wonderful Naruto video by 'TemaShika85' will come up. It's a very funny video, and should be watched!**

******Well, that's all I have to say, please review!**


	7. Chapter 6: Online Conversations

**Ok, I had this really great chapter, that my computer deleted, so this is more of a filler chapter until I can retype the other one. **

**XxX**

**Chapter 6: Online Conversations**

**XxX**

_**Chibi Aki has just signed in**_

**Hokage of Ramen: **Who's Chibi Aki?

**Chibi Aki: **That's a very good question… who am I?

**Sandman: **It's Akimoto obviously

**Dark Avenger: **The first three letters of her name. Why are you such a dobe?

**Hokage of Ramen: **I'm not a dobe, teme!

**Pink Petals: **Don't argue with Sasuke-kun online Naruto

**Hokage of Ramen: **You argue with Ino!

**Weapons Mistress: **And finishes her sentences

**Chibi Aki: **but they can't even see each other! How do they know what the other is thinking? Maybe they are twins…

**Pink Petals: **I'M NOT INO-PIG'S TWIN!

**Sandman: **You do act like it

**Pink Petals: **Great! The one time Gaara says something he disagrees with me

**Weapons Mistress: **That's the third time he's said something

**Pink Petals: **You're right… he talks a lot more when Akimoto-chan is on

**Chibi Aki: **I've seen him say 2 things

**Weapons Mistress: **Normally he doesn't say anything at all

**Chibi Aki: **Why don't you talk Gaara-kun?

**Sandman: **most of their conversations are boring and not worth listening and responding to.

**Dark Avenger: **That's the longest thing I've ever heard him say

**Hokage of Ramen: **You're one to talk. You never say anything either!

**Dark Avenger: **aren't you the one who gets mad when I talk to you?

**Hokage of Ramen: **…

**Pink Petals: **HE FINALLY SHUT UP! IT'S A MIRICAL!

**Hokage of Ramen: **Do you really think that Sakura-chan?

**_Silent Whisperer has just signed in_**

**Pink Petals: **Hello Hinata-chan

**Silent Whisperer: **Hello

**Chibi Aki: **What's new with you Hinata-chan?

**Silent Whisperer: **nothing really… there isn't much to do around here

**Hokage of Ramen: **Are you guys going to answer my question?

**Pink Petals: **Nice weather we're having, isn't it?

**Hokage of Ramen: **Nani?

**_Deadly Curse has just signed in_**

**Weapons Mistress: **Hello Neji-kun

**Deadly Curse: **hi

**Hokage of Ramen: **He's worse than Gaara and Sasuke-teme

**Weapons Mistress: **Naruto, do you want to die young?

**Dark Avenger: **Because we can arrange that

**Deadly Curse: **It won't be too much trouble

**Pink Petals: **In fact it'll be a lot of fun!

**Hokage of Ramen: **Why is everyone so mean to me!

**Silent Whisperer: **I'm not meant to you Naruto-kun

**Hokage of Ramen: **but everyone else is mean to me! What did I do?

**Pink Petals: **We'd like to tell you what you did, but that would take WAY to long, and I don't feel like typing for three days strait.

**Hokage of Ramen: **why are you so mean to me Sakura-chan!

**Dark Avenger: **Because you're a dobe

**Hokage of Ramen: **I wasn't talking to you teme!

**Pink Petals: **He's right Naruto

**Silent Whisperer: **You're not a dobe Naruto-kun

**Deadly Curse: **Hinata-sama do you have a fever? You're having delusions.

**Hokage of Ramen: **SHE IS NOT HAVING DELUSIONS! I'M NOT A DOBE!

**Pink Petals: **Naruto, there is no need to use caps lock

**Hokage of Ramen: **YES THERE IS!

_**Mind Caster has just signed in**_

**Pink Petals: **Ino-chan, we're having a vote, is Naruto a dobe?

**Mind Caster: **DUH

**Mind Caster: **Of course he is!

**Mind Caster: **Who said he wasn't?

**Hokage of Ramen: **HINATA-CHAN AND I BOTH AGREE THAT I'M NOT A DOBE

**Sandman: **Why are you still in caps lock?

**Hokage of Ramen: **BECAUSE THE KEYBOARD ISN'T WORKING AND NOW I CAN'T GET OUT OF CAPS LOCK!

**Dark Avenger: **Dobe

**Hokage of Ramen: **I'M NOT A DOBE! MY KEYBOARD IS JUST OLD!

**Silent Whisperer: **Would you like me to get you a new one Naruto-kun?

**Deadly Curse: **Don't waste your money Hinata-sama

**Hokage of Ramen: **IT WOULDN'T BE A WASTE OF MONEY IF SHE'S HELPING ME

**Silent Whisperer: **Besides, the caps are annoying me too

**Pink Petals: **She has a point there

**Mind Caster:** A good one

**Pink Petals: **Besides

**Mind Caster: **Hinata-chan is loaded

**Chibi Aki:** How is it possible that you two can finish each other's sentences when you aren't even in the same house?

**Mind Caster:** …

**Pink Petals:** …

**Sandman:** they're weird

**Pink Petals:** You're one to talk. You use more eyeliner that I do!

**Sandman:** I don't use eyeliner

**Mind Caster:** but your eyes always have dark rings around them

**Pink Petals:** maybe he's a druggy

**Mind Caster:** it is a possibility…

**Sandman:** no it isn't

**Chibi Aki:** Yeah! Leave Gaara-kun alone

**Pink Petals:** XP

**Mind Caster:** You guys can't gang up on us!

**Chibi Aki:** you were ganging up on him

**Sandman:** she's right

**Weapons Mistress:** Gaara's talking!

**Weapons Mistress:** It's a miracle!

**Sandman:** I have to defend myself against the twins

**Pink Petals:** We're not twins!

**Sandman:** sure…

**Chibi Aki:** lol

**Dark Avenger:** They aren't twins

**Pink Petals:** thank you Sasuke-kun

**Dark Avenger:** Hn

**Hokage of Ramen:** IS THAT ALL YOU CAN SAY!

**Dark Avenger: **Hn

**Hokage of Ramen:** WHAT DOES THAT MEAN?

**Dark Avenger:** Hn

**Hokage of Ramen:** TELL ME SASUKE-TEME

**Dark Avenger:** Hn

**Pink Petals:** Are you having fun making him mad Sasuke-kun?

**Dark Avenger:** Yes actually

**Weapons Mistress:** What's new with you Neji-kun?

**Deadly Curse:** nothing

**Weapons Mistress:** You have to say something!

**Weapons Mistress:** Sasuke, Sakura, and Naruto are getting annoying

**Pink Petals:** Shut up Lord of the Dance-chan

**Weapons Mistress:** I told you not to call me that!

**Pink Petals:** I told you not to call me annoying.

**Weapons Mistress:** gomen, gomen, gomen Sakura-chan! I completely forgot what… I'll stop there

**Pink Petals:** thank you

**Hokage of Ramen:** WHAT IS GOING ON HERE?

**Silent Whisperer:** It's a girl thing Naruto-kun

**Mind Caster:** meaning BUTT OUT!

**Hokage of Ramen: **YOU CAN TELL ME

**Dark Avenger: **yeah, he's feminine enough

**Mind Caster:** but if we told him, everyone else could read this.

**Weapons Mistress:** And we respect Sakura-chan's privacy

**Hokage of Ramen:** IT'S JUST ONE LITTLE ITTY BITTY SECRET

**Pink Petals:** IT IS NOT A LITTLE ITTY BITTY SECRET! It's a huge secret!

**Mind Caster:** I suggest you stop talking Naruto-baka

**Hokage of Ramen:** WHY?

**Mind Caster: **Do you really want to see forehead-chan extremely angry?

**Hokage of Ramen:** NO… I'LL PASS ON THAT

**Dark Avenger:** The smartest move of your life

**Dark Avenger:** I've seen what she does to the fan girls

**Sandman:** I have too… not pretty…

**Chibi Aki:** do I even want to know what she does?

**Sandman:** probably not

**Chibi Aki:** I'll take your word for it

**_Wind Sorceress has just signed in_**

**Sandman: **Temari, make me some lunch

**Wind Sorceress:** Nani?

**Sandman: **Make. Me. Some. Lunch. Now.

**Wind Sorceress:** fine

**Wind Sorceress:** what do you want?

**Sandman: **surprise me

**Sandman:** and I can hear you cursing me

_**Wind Sorceress may not reply because his/her status is set to Away**_

**Mind Caster: **I don't like her

**Sandman:** neither do I

**Chibi Aki:** She's your sister

**Sandman:** Still don't like her

**Dark Avenger:** there's nothing wrong with not liking your sibling

**Silent Whisperer:** or cousin

**Deadly Curse: **Nani?

**Silent Whisperer: **just another example

**Deadly Curse: **brb

**Hokage of Ramen:** WHAT DOES BRB MEAN?

**Dark Avenger:** it means be right back, dobe

**Deadly Curse:** I'm back

**Silent Whisperer:** Neji-nii-san that hurt!

**Sandman:** Temari how horrible of a cook do you have to be to mess up a sandwich?

**Wind Sorceress:** There is nothing wrong with it Gaara

**Mind Caster:** if you made it, there has to be something wrong with it

**Wind Sorceress:** what was that Yamanaka?

_**Hidden Shadow has just signed in**_

**Mind Caster: **Hello Shika-kun

**Hidden Shadow:** hey ino

**Wind Sorceress:** What about me Shika-kun?

**Mind Caster:** What about you?

**Wind Sorceress: **I wasn't talking to you pig!

**Wind Sorceress: **I was asking Shika-kun why he didn't say hi to me; after all he's my boyfriend now

**Hidden Shadow:** i am? when did this happen?

**Pink Petals:** When you're going out with someone, doesn't the other person usually know?

**Chibi Aki:** I thought that's how it worked too…

**Mind Caster:** They aren't going out! Shika-kun would have told me, right?

**Hidden Shadow:** sure

**Wind Sorceress:** Why aren't you telling them about us Shika-kun?

**Dark Avenger:** I think it had something to do with the fact that there's nothing going on between the two of you

**Deadly Curse:** I'm going to have to agree with the Uchiha on this one

**Sandman: **besides, if he actually agreed to be your boyfriend, you would have mentioned it in you diary. And I haven't seen anything in there about that.

**Wind Sorceress: **GAARA YOU FREAK!

_**Wind Sorceress has signed off**_

**Chibi Aki: **you read her diary?

**Sandman:** I said I hadn't seen anything in there about it, that's because I've never read it, therefore I haven't seen anything in there.

**Mind Caster:** that's a great way to get rid of her!

**Sandman:** I thought it was

**Mind Caster:** I have new respect for you Gaara-san

**Dark Avenger:** I wish it was that easy to get rid of Itachi

**Pink Petals:** I don't see why you hate him so much

**Dark Avenger:** you don't live with him

**Hokage of Ramen:** PINK AND DARK HAVING A CONVERSATION. IT SOUNDS KIND OF WEIRD SINCE IT'S TWO OPPOSITES

**Pink Petals:** correction, pink and dark WERE having a conversation, you just ruined it!

**Mind Caster:** and you still haven't fixed your keyboard?

**Silent Whisperer:** I'll take you shopping tomorrow and get you a new one Naruto-kun

**Deadly Curse:** I still think it's a waste of money

**Weapons Mistress:** Leave her alone Neji, if it's what she wants to do, then let her.

**Weapons Mistress:** If she didn't get him a new keyboard, then she'd just treat him to ramen, either way, he gets her money.

**Deadly Curse: **I guess you're right…

**Weapons Mistress:** of course I am!

**Mind Caster:** if anyone else

**Pink Petals:** it wouldn't

**Mind Caster: **didn't think so

**Pink Petals:** it only works

**Mind Caster:** when she

**Pink Petals:** cuz he

**Mind Caster:** it's obvious

**Pink Petals:** very

**Mind Caster:** but she still doesn't

**Pink Petals:** she does

**Mind Caster:** but won't

**Chibi Aki:** You guys are doing it again

**Sandman:** that's really weird

**Dark Avenger:** and annoying

**Deadly Curse:** what were they talking about?

**Weapons Mistress:** They weren't talking about anything important, RIGHT?

**Pink Petals:** it was very important

**Mind Caster:** but we won't tell

**Pink Petals:** Tenten-chan would probably hurt us

**Mind Caster:** and we'd know what the fan girls felt like

**Weapons Mistress: **You got that right. Talking about things that AREN'T true, and telling everyone would result in a one way trip to the hospital

_**Pink Petals has signed off**_

**Mind Caster: **bye Shika-kun

**Hidden Shadow: **ja ne

_**Mind Caster has signed off**_

**Hokage of Ramen:** WHAT JUST HAPPENED HERE?

_**Weapons Mistress just signed off**_

**Hokage of Ramen: **I'M CONFUSED

**Chibi Aki: **I have to go now, ja ne minna

**Sandman: **bye Akimoto

**Hokage of Ramen: **BYE AKIMOTO-CHAN

_**Chibi Aki has signed off**_

**Dark Avenger: **What were they talking about?

**Deadly Curse:** Do you think it has anything to do with what they were talking about at the beach?

**Hidden Shadow:** it seems possible. they started saying that after tenten calmed neji down, so they could have been talking about their belief that those two have a crush on each other

**Hokage of Ramen:** WHEN DID THEY SAY THAT? I DON'T REMEMBER HEARING THEM TALK ABOUT ANYTHING LIKE THAT AND I WAS LISTENING TOO

**Dark Avenger:** they said this after we knocked you out

**Deadly Curse: **oh, and lose some weight! We almost got caught trying to drag your useless body when they were coming out of the changing room

_**Silent Whisperer has just signed off**_

**Deadly Curse:** SHE WAS STILL ON!

**Dark Avenger: **We're dead

**Hidden Shadow: **They are going to kill us

**Hokage of Ramen: **MAYBE SHE WON'T TELL ANYONE I MEAN SHE IS 'SILENT WHISPERER'

_**Dark Avenger has signed off**_

_**Deadly Curse has signed off**_

_**Silent Shadow has signed off**_

_**Sandman has signed off**_

**Hokage of Ramen: **WHERE'D EVERYBODY GO?

_**Hokage of Ramen has signed off**_

**XxX**

**Like I said, this was just a filler chapter. I'd like to thank Mustard-Gal for helping me with this story so much! She helped me come up with some of the names for the characters… ok… she helped me with all of the names for the characters! I came up with Sakura's name, and that's about it. She also drew a great picture that illustrated the beach scene from the last chapter, if you'd like to see it, there's a link at the top of my profile!**


	8. Chapter 7: Busted

"THEY DID WHAT!" Ino screamed.

"They were listening in to our conversation at the beach," Hinata repeated, flinching as Ino yelled once again.

"HOW COULD THEY DO THAT!"

"It's simple," Sakura said, flames surrounding her. "They decided that they wanted to die pretty soon, so they listened into our conversation."

"We don't even know who heard what," Akimoto said, she looked livid. "We don't know when they started listening, or for how long, or who was there."

"We know they heard everything that Ino confessed," Sakura said. "Because we broke up that fight by leaving, we know that Naruto, Sasuke-kun, Shikamaru and Neji were defiantly there, because they said things about the conversation, and we know that they won't live much longer."

"That about sums it up," Tenten said, shaking with anger.

"But when did they start listening?" Akimoto asked the question on everyone's mind.

"We know that Naruto didn't hear very much because he was knocked out, but why was he knocked out?" Sakura said, pacing.

"Because he gets on Sasuke-kun's nerves," Ino suggested. "And Sasuke-kun doesn't just let him get away with that."

"Point taken… but Sasuke-kun doesn't just go around knocking Naruto out, he usually has a reason…"

"Maybe Naruto insulted him," Ino said shrugging.

"Or maybe Naruto-kun did something," Akimoto said, looking thoughtful. "I see what you're getting at Sakura, in order for Sasuke-kun to get mad at Naruto-kun he would have had to have done something. Sasuke-kun hates it when Naruto-kun acts like an idiot, therefore he would have had to have heard something that would make him seem more like a dobe than he already is. Meaning…"

"Naruto probably heard what we said about Hinata-chan," Sakura said suddenly.

"B-b-but that means…" Hinata stuttered.

"If that's where they started listening," Tenten finished for her. "Then they heard almost all of our conversation."

"THEY'RE DEAD!" The five of them yelled in unison.

**XxX**

"Hinata-sama," Neji said, trying to sound polite, as Hinata burst into the house. "How was your day?"

"You are so dead!" Hinata said, not a trace of a stutter.

"It was all Naruto's idea!" he said, for once looking scared.

"But you went along with it!" she yelled back.

"Well… you see… I only went along because they… blackmailed me," Neji lied.

"With what?"

"They would have told you guys something about me, that I don't want to share," he said calmly.

"You're lying, and I know it."

"I'm not lying!"

"You would simply beat Naruto-kun up if he threatened to do anything about it. If Sasuke tried anything, you would ignore him and pretend like it didn't bother you. Shikamaru would think it's to 'troublesome' to spy and/or blackmail anyway, and I don't even think Gaara went with you. So why would you agree to go with them?"

"Because… Naruto tricked me…"

"Naruto-kun," Hinata said in disbelief. "Tricked you? The genius of the Hyuuga clan? _You_ were tricked by the person you call a 'dobe' all the time?"

"Yes," Neji mumbled.

"How?"

"He said some things…"

Hinata scowled at him, and then picked up the phone sitting beside her. "Tenten-chan," she said, Neji's eyes widened. "I've got one of the cornered, how's everybody else doing?"

"Ino got Shikamaru to confess, but Sakura's having trouble. And I'm sure Naruto will talk to me as soon as regains consciousness."

"You knocked him unconscious?"

"It was his fault…"

"Ok… I'll meet you guys at Akimoto-chan's place shortly."

"We'll be there."

"Why are we going to Akimoto's place?" Neji asked, deciding it was better to agree with his cousin then try to fight her.

"Because her parent's are out of town, and she has a nice collection of swords." Neji's face went as pale as his eyes.

**XxX**

"So far we've gathered that this started out as Naruto-baka's idea," Ino whispered to her friends.

"And we know that Sasuke knocked him out, but they won't tell us why," Tenten added.

"But we already know, so it doesn't really matter," Sakura said. "But they don't know that we know that, so we've got the upper hand."

"Except for the fact that they know what we were talking about at the beach," Ino said through clenched teeth.

"Who do you think will spill everything the fastest?" Sakura said, glaring at the boys.

"Shikamaru," Ino said, also glaring. "He'll think it's too troublesome not to agree with us. Plus his memory is so good, he probably has the entire day saved like some weird mental tape recording."

"You've got a point there…. How many swords do you have Akimoto-chan?"

"Um… I lost count…" her companions sweat dropped.

"Oh well, at least is scared them out of their wits… or whatever the have left of them…" Ino said while Tenten admired all of the pointy objects.

"I'll go get Shikamaru," Sakura said. She came back, and shoved said genius not too gently into a chair inside of an interrogation room, that just happened to be at Akimoto's house. She never did tell them what her mother did for a living…

"Hello Shika-kun," Ino said, coming up to the table where he was sitting at. "How's your day going?"

"Could be better."

"YOU'RE COMPLAINING! You and your stupid friends were spying on us!" Ino's voice could be heard in the next town over. "How could you do that to us? It's a complete invasion of privacy! I have half a mind to—,"

"Ino," Sakura said calmly. "We're here to ask him questions, not yell at him… yet." She turned to Shikamaru, "We have questions, and you're going to answer each and every single one of them, or Ino gets to play with Akimoto-chan's sword collection, using you as the dummy."

"This is so troublesome," he muttered. "What do you want to know?"

Ten minutes later Shikamaru was lead out of the room, and shoved back into his previous seat. Naruto was then dragged into the same room, looking at his friends, fear written all over his face.

"THIS WAS ALL YOUR IDEA!" Sakura screamed as soon as he was seated. The blonde didn't answer, but shuffled his feet and fidgeted. "Why? Why did you convince everyone else that it would be fun to spy on us?"

"And where did you come up with that horrible story?" Tenten asked, glaring at Naruto. "What in your right mind would make you think that it would be ok to say that I like Itachi?"

"Or me for that matter," Akimoto said, sharpening one of her MANY swords.

"_I _know that," Naruto said. "But me saying that was the only way to get everybody else to go with me."

"You do realize you just confessed," Tenten pointed out.

"Kuso," Naruto muttered.

"You really are a baka," Sakura said.

"You guys tricked me into saying stuff!" Naruto insisted.

"We didn't say anything that would have tricked you, you confessed all on your own," Akimoto said, not looking up from her huge and now extremely sharp sword. "You really are a baka."

"This isn't fair!" Naruto whined. "I wasn't the only one who was listening into your conversation! Everyone else was too."

"Who all was there?" Tenten asked, just for the record's sake.

"I'm not telling you. If you don't know who was there, I won't rat them out."

"Naruto, Naruto, Naruto," Akimoto said standing up and looking at her sword lovingly. "See this beauty right here; it's one of my favorites. It's extremely sharp, and is pretty light weight, very easy to use. Now, in one simple swing I could chop your finger, maybe even an arm off. That is, unless you want to tell us who all was listening, what you heard, what compelled you to spy on us, and any other information we might want to know about."

"You wouldn't really hurt me with that, would you Akimoto-chan?"

"Naruto, Naruto, Naruto, you know me so little."

"Neji and Sasuke were the first people who agreed. Then they dragged Shikamaru, and Gaara followed us, but he kind of disappeared, I'm not even sure if he was there, though he did seem to want to know what you were talking about… who knows where he went… anyway, we came and I heard Hinata-chan talking about some guy she liked, then for some reason Sasuke-teme hit me in the back of the head… that's all I remember."

They were satisfied with this answer and lead him into the room where they had his companions tied to chairs. Not really to keep them there for if the boys wanted to get free, it would be only to easy, it was more because they had nothing better to do. And the boys only stayed there because there was nothing else to do.

"How should we punish them?" Tenten asked, standing in front of the boys they still held captive, while looking admiringly at Akimoto's large collection of pointy objects.

"I think you should let them go," Naruto said hopefully.

"I second that motion," Shikamaru added.

"Shikamaru is the genius," Sasuke pointed out.

"And you wouldn't want to kill us anyway," Neji said calmly. "You like us to much."

"That can change," Ino said, glaring daggers at the males, her friends nodding in agreement.

"Come on, why would you want to harm us in any way?" Sasuke asked, thinking fast. "Do you really want to spend all your time with Ino?" He asked Sakura. "I mean, if we're gone, you're stuck with her, the two weapons fanatics, and a stuttering Hyuuga.

"You aren't allowed to talk to Sakura-chan," Akimoto said, crossing her arms.

"And you don't even have any proof that I was there, why am I sitting here?" Gaara asked. "Let me go, please Akimoto."

"You aren't allowed to talk to Akimoto-chan," Ino said stepping in front of her friend, just to make sure she didn't try to set him free. This is how it went for another few minutes, until the girls finally caved and let them go, on one condition.

**XxX**

It's amazing how quickly the girls managed to forgive their friends. It must have been something about the promise that they wouldn't do it again, and promising that they would each do one thing for them, no matter what it was. Which, probably wasn't the wisest of ideas, but it was either that or being forced into dresses and having the pictures sent to the yearbook committee.

"So, Shikamaru," Ino said, looking around the mall that they were currently sitting in. "You have to do something for me, and I get to choose what it is… what should I choose?"

"You could choose for me to take you cloud watching," he suggested, not even daring to hope that his little plan would work, which was right, because Ino instantly dismissed the idea.

"It should be something fun, for me of course… maybe I could make you buy me something… that would be fun, but a waste… hmm… your lucky we didn't let Temari in on the plan, otherwise she might make you her slave as well… hmm…"

**XxX**

"Sasuke-kun, why did you guys listen into our conversation?" Sakura asked, looking through the crowd of people and watching her friend torture the local genius with her never ending babbling.

"Dobe told us to," he said simply.

"How did he convince you to do that?"

"Hn."

"I see… so he tricked you?"

"Hn."

"By using Itachi against you?"

"Hn?"

"Oh, it's quite simple really. You say 'hn' in a different tone when you're talking about different things. When you talk about Naruto the h is ever so slightly longer, and you look annoyed. When you 'talk' about Itachi your eyes darken, you scowl, and your tone is louder."

"Hn."

Sakura giggled, "I do not have to much free time, I just notice things about my friends."

"Hn."

"I don't see why you can't just speak normally… I mean, it's not like it'll hurt you any."

"How do you know?"

"How do you not know?"

"You can't answer a question with a question."

"You answered my question with a question."

"I was right," Sasuke said, looking annoyed.

"How so?"

"This is giving me a headache, so clearly talking _will_ hurt me."

Sakura sighed, something she seemed to be doing around Sasuke a lot lately. It was as if was finally taking his advice and giving up on him, but she was extremely reluctant to do it. She wanted to be with him, she really did, but she was beginning to wonder what the point was. It didn't seem that her feelings were ever going to be reciprocated, so what was the point of even trying anymore.

"**Don't give up without a fight!" **Inner Sakura yelled. **"He has to come around!" **

'I hope your right," she thought.

**XxX**

"Were you there?" Akimoto asked for the millionth time. Her friend ignored her and continued walking down the crowed pathways of the mall. "Ignoring me isn't going to do anything."

"You won't believe me if I told you I didn't go, you'd get mad and storm off if I told you I did go. What answer do you want?"

"The truth!"

"It wouldn't matter if I told you the truth or lied, either way I'm not getting any peace out of this."

"Just tell me Gaara-kun!"

"Is there any particular reason why we are at this horrible place?"

"Yes, and stop changing the subject."

"But if I continue with said conversation, it'll just end in a fight, and I'm really not in the mood to argue with you further."

Akimoto sighed, "Ok, whatever you say Gaara-kun."

**XxX**

"You're not going to forbid me from eating ramen are you?" **(A/N: if you don't know who saying that by now, then go jump off a cliff.)**

"I wouldn't do that Naruto-kun."

"Are you going to make me do all your homework for a month?"

"Naruto," Hinata said calmly. "I enjoy having good grades. True they aren't as good as Sakura-chan's, but I do like where they are. I will tell you what I will make you do when the time comes, and if you make one more suggestion, I might go through with it."

"You're really mad, aren't you Hinata-chan?"

"Hai."

"I don't think I've ever seen you mad…"

"Then you should know that what you boys did was very bad and should _never_ do it again."

"I promise, Hinata-chan!"

**XxX**

"What would make you do that to us?" Tenten asked, trying very hard not to yell.

Neji shrugged, "The idiot put up a good argument."

"That's no excuse! You're smarter than him. Rocks are smarter than him!"

"You'd be surprised…"

"Don't try and put the blame on Naruto, if you didn't want to go, you didn't have to."

"I know," Neji said sighing. "I've apologized a million times already, when are you going to drop the subject?"

"When I'm not longer angry."

"And that will be?"

"I don't know yet."

**XxX**

**I know the chapter is late, but I have a good excuse! I was kidnapped by pirates. That's right, pirates. They took me to the Caribbean… or maybe I went willingly to my friend's house and went to go see Pirates of the Caribbean 2… I forget which one. XD Either way, the group of four I went with were first in line at that movie theater… good times!**

**Anyway, I hope you liked the chapter; I am once again experiencing writer's block. I'm not sure what I want to happen next, so if you have an idea, feel free to review! Even if you don't, review anyway, please! **


	9. Chapter 8: Bad Ideas

**My computer is being used so I'm on my nii-chan's computer while he's gone. Shh, don't tell him! The point it, the chapter won't be as long because he'd throw a fit if I used up his computer space.**

**XxX**

**Chapter 8: Bad Ideas**

**XxX**

Akimoto held in a laugh as a boy in green spandex attempted to get Sakura to accept his offer for a date. He'd been trying for the past a five minutes, and still hadn't given up.

"Gomen Lee-san," Sakura said, sighing as she tried to get him to go away. "But I already have plans with Akimoto-chan."

"She can come also!" Lee said enthusiastically.

"We would love to join you, Lee-san," Akimoto said, still trying to laugh. "However, we were planning on shopping for clothes, and we would hate to drag you along, it would probably bore you."

"Ok," Lee said, finally giving up. "I'll see you guys later."

"Ja ne," the two girls said, waving and walking away.

"Arigatto Akimoto-chan," Sakura said as soon as they were sure Lee couldn't hear them. "I was running out of excuses."

"Not a problem," Akimoto assured him. "His eyebrows scare me..."

"You're not alone. Naruto calls him fuzzy-brows all the time! He is nice though," she added. "And a very loyal friend, but he's just..."

"No Sasuke-kun," Ino said, walking up beside her friends.

"Very true," Akimoto commented. "Lee-san seems a lot more..."

"Emotional," Ino said once again. "You should see him when he sees Gai-sensei... on second thought, you probably shouldn't. Its way to creepy for words to describe," Ino and Sakura shuttered at the memory.

"When did you get here Ino?" Sakura asked, looking through the many clothes racks in the store they were currently hanging out in.

"I've been here for hours, but I just saw you two get rid of eyebrows, so I thought I'd come and join you. I'm not to sure why I've spent all this time here though; I don't have any money on me."

"I don't either," Sakura said. "But I felt like taking a walk and ended up at the mall, go figure."

"I have a little bit of money on me," Akimoto said. "Though I don't think I'll be able to buy much with it."

"Should we just leave then?" Sakura asked.

"I don't really feel like leaving though," Ino said. "Maybe we should try and find some boys to pay for it for us!"

"Not a good idea," Sakura said, glancing at Akimoto.

"Why not?" Akimoto asked.

"Because..." Sakura started.

"You're right," Ino said.

"Not again," Akimoto sighed, but she was ignored.

"Is he that type?"

"Seems like it."

"Seems or is?"

"Don't know."

"Will you two give it a rest?"

"Gomen," Sakura said.

"I'm bored," Ino complained. "I say we should go with my plan, because I really want to get something here." Sakura sighed and she and Akimoto reluctantly agreed, somehow knowing that something was going to go wrong with this. It wasn't long before Ino had found three victims.

"Hi," she said walking up to them. "I'm Ino, and this is Sakura and Akimoto."

"I'm Kajou," said a boy with bright green eyes, pale skin, and dark hair. "This is Nakashima," he pointed to a boy with chocolate brown eyes, tan skin, and dark brown curly hair, he looked like he belonged in the movies.

"And I'm Takumi," the last one said. He looked similar to Kajou, but his eyes were a pale blue. "I'm his cousin," he added as Ino looked back and forth between the look a likes.

"Nice to meet you," Sakura said politely, though slightly nervously.

"What are you guys up to?" Ino said, smiling brightly.

"Taking you to lunch," Takumi said, grinning mischievously" Nakashima's treat!"

"How do you suck me into these things?" asked said person as he glared at his friend.

"Because you never object. Besides, do you really want to make these pretty girls go hungry?"

He sighed, "Fine. To the food court."

"Sakura was it?" Kajou asked as the six of them made their way through the crowds. Sakura nodded in answer, blushing ever so slightly. "That's a nice name, fits your hair." Sakura just smiled, and looked at her friends. Ino was flirting with Nakashima and Akimoto looked like she was getting annoyed by Takumi.

"So, are you in town?" Takumi asked Akimoto.

"Hai."

"Where did you move from?"

"A place."

"You're not going to answer me are you?"

"You've done nothing but annoy me since we met."

"How am I annoying?"

"You ask way too many questions."

"I'm trying to start a conversation," he defended himself. "You're way cuter than both of your friends."

"Then how did Ino-chan get to talk with Nakashima? He's better looking than you."

"Aww, you don't mean that," Takumi said, putting his arm around Akimoto's shoulders.

"Get your arm off of me," Akimoto said, but was ignored.

"So, do you go to Leaf High?"

"Yeah, now get your arm off of me."

"How come I haven't seen you around?"

"I hang out with a large group of people, I'm not sure how you didn't get a chance to see me. Now get your arm off of me before I break it."

"Who do you hang out with?"

"Gaara-kun, Uchiha Sasuke, the Hyuuga cousins Neji and Hinata, Uzumaki Naruto, Nara Shikamaru, Tenten, and those two." He promptly took his arm off of her.

"So you hang with Gaara huh?" Akimoto just smiled at him.

"What do you guys want to eat?" Nakashima asked. Everyone gave their orders and he set off to buy their food.

"He's cute and a gentleman," Ino whispered to her companions.

"Lucky you," Akimoto muttered.

"It's not like you have to make much of a commitment," Sakura pointed out. "According to Ino's plan, we're just supposed to get them to buy us stuff."

"You're guy's weird too?" Ino asked.

Sakura blushed, "He almost reminds me of Lee-san, minus the eyebrows and spandex. He hasn't confessed his undying love for me, but he keeps talking about how he'd like to meet me again."

"Is he annoying?" Akimoto asked, glaring at the back of Takumi's head. Sakura didn't get a chance to answer, because they're food arrived and they began to eat quietly.

"So, why were you guys wondering the mall all by yourselves?" Takumi asked; he seemed to be a lot like Naruto in the way of never shutting up.

"We were just hanging out," Ino said, smiling brightly. "Looking for something interesting to do, that's when we saw you guys!"

"Interesting," a voice from behind them said. "I recall you guys saying that you were going to have a girl's day out or something like that with only you two. I guess you met up with Ino later, but it's hard to hang out when there are three creeps sitting with you."

"Gaara-kun!" Akimoto said, both relieved to see him, and slightly nervous that he might kill the boys they were talking to. "When did you get here?"

"About 10 minutes ago. Shikamaru wanted me to tell you that Naruto did something stupid and is at the hospital. But I can see you're busy, so I'll just go see him by myself."

"What happened to him?" Sakura asked worriedly.

"When did this happen?" Ino added, completely forgetting the three males sitting in front of her, shaking in fear at the sight of Gaara.

"You're ridding up front," Sakura whispered to Akimoto as they followed Gaara to his car.

"Why me?" she asked, still partially afraid of him.

"Because he won't kill you," Ino said simply.

The ride to visit their injured friend was a very awkward and uncomfortable ride. "When did you meet them?" Gaara asked as they pulled out of the parking lot.

"Today," Akimoto muttered. "It was all Ino-chan's idea!" Ino glared at the back of her head.

"Really? And what was the 'idea'?"

"Honestly, I have no idea," Akimoto said truthfully. "I wasn't really paying attention to her, I was listening to Sakura-chan's mumbling about how this was going to end badly."

"We just wanted to see if they would buy us stuff," Ino defended herself. "We were all broke, and they were cute!"

"No, Nakashima was cute, Takumi was just annoying. He kept trying to flirt with me," Akimoto made gagging noises, while a vain popped in Gaara's forehead.

"I don't believe that," Sakura said. "He looked terrified of you when we were eating."

"Because I told him who I hung out with. Apparently Gaara-kun is very well known at this school… same as Neji-san and Sasuke-kun…"

"That explains a lot," Ino said. "Mostly why he almost wet himself when he saw Gaara walk up behind us…"

"We're here," Gaara said turning off the car and getting out. Under normal conditions, the person who had already seen the person who was injured would lead the new visitors into said person's room, but since when has story been considered normal? As soon as the four friends entered the hospital, they could hear Naruto complaining loudly, on the second floor.

"Naruto really," Sakura said, walking into the room. "I can't believe you manage to almost get yourself killed, and still manage to complain so loudly we can hear on the first floor."

"What are you talking about?" Tenten asked, rubbing her head. "This is as quiet as he's been all day."

**XxX**

**Yay! I'm done! Another chapter should be up soon, and its dedicated to my DEAR, SWEET cousins, who I might just murder… you'll find out why in the next chapter!**


	10. Chapter 9: Water Park

**This chapter is dedicated to my lovely cousins.**

**Disclaimer: I don't own Naruto, but I do own a Sasuke-kun t-shirt! Thanks again Mustard-Gal! **

**XxX**

**Chapter 9: Water Park**

**XxX**

"Why are we here?" Neji asked, as they walked through the gates of the water park that had recently opened.

"Because," Tenten said. "Its a million degrees and we're not going to let our new bathing suits go to waste."

"And we didn't hear you complaining when we suggested this," Sakura added.

"Mostly because he's not as gay as we thought he was," Naruto said, sporting a pair of orange swimming trunks.

"And what's that supposed to mean?" Neji asked, glaring.

"And they say you're the genius…" Naruto trailed off. Neji just continued glaring at him.

"He means," Sasuke said, walking up behind them. "That you agreed to come so that you could see Tenten in a swim suit.

"What's your reason Uchiha?" Neji asked, glaring and trying to cover a faint blush.

"It is a million degrees," he said simply.

"And Sakura-chan's wearing a bikini," Akimoto added, walking past them, leading Hinata to one of the rides. Sasuke glared in her general direction.

"Have you guys seen Ino?" Sakura asked, looking for her blonde friend/rival.

"She was arguing with Shikamaru about something," Tenten said, scanning the park for something to do.

"She's over there," Neji said, pointing over his shoulder where the blonde and genius were bickering like an old married couple.

"Ino!" Sakura called. "Wanna go on a roller coaster?"

"Of course!" she called back, running to her friend's side as they took off.

"What about us?" Tenten yelled at their retreating backs.

"There's a shooting game over there," Temari pointed out.

"Goody!" Tenten said, rushing over there, Temari on her trail.

"We've been ditched," Naruto stated.

"I'm hurt," Sasuke said sarcastically.

"So am I," Neji said, a smirk on his face. "We should do something to get back at them."

"They sell squirt guns over there," Shikamaru said, pointing to a small stand.

"Are you guys thinking what I'm thinking?" Naruto asked.

"Hai," Neji said, smirking.

"Demo," Sasuke added. "On a brain higher level."

"Ok… wait a minute…" Naruto pouted.

As the boys picked out their weapons of choice, the girls met up (minus Temari, who disappeared suddenly) and bought some snow cones, unaware of the evil being plotted against them. That's when it hit them, literally. They screamed as blasts of cold water hit they're backs, soaking them.

"Who did that?" Ino asked as the shots paused. They turned around cautiously to find they're 'friends' standing there with large water weapons, each with a smirk on his respective face.

"What was that for?" Akimoto asked; the glare on her face could rival Sasuke's.

"You ditched us," Naruto said simply.

"What are you talking about?" Tenten asked.

"We were supposed to enjoy a day of fun _together_," Neji said, he kept his water gun up, just incase.

"How is this fun?" Ino asked, shaking with rage.

"Its tons of fun," Sasuke said smirking.

"For us," Shikamaru added.

"We're the only ones who get to finish each other's sentences," Sakura said motioning to herself and Ino.

"It's creepy when other people do it," Ino said.

"Its creepy when you guys do it," Gaara pointed out.

"BAKA!" Sakura and Ino yelled, which was a big mistake. For future reference, insulting the people that have weapons pointed at you isn't the brightest of ideas. Ino and Sakura's comment cost all their friends another round of water, this time soaking the front of them. Now, there's only so much a girl can take before she snaps, and for Sakura, Ino, Tenten, and Akimoto, that was it. Sasuke, Shikamaru, Neji, and Gaara were now covered in the sweet syrup of snow cone flavoring. Hinata managed to keep her cool, but she's a Hyuuga, a shy one yes, but one nonetheless, so she seemed to have inherited a sense of self control.

One would think that Naruto would have been safe now, which was partially true, Hinata didn't dump her snow cone one him, but when he started laughing hysterically and making fun of his friends, he was in more trouble than what he thought. While Naruto was getting attacked by blasts of water, the girls took this as a distraction and snuck off to where they could purchase their own water guns, but they didn't stop there. They then bought three packets of water balloons and each grabbed two empty cups, which they took to a nearby bathroom.

They filled up their weapons, but hid them well. Tenten and Akimoto had each brought a backpack which they had packed sun block, snacks, towels, etc. Akimoto put everything that she had brought into Tenten's backpack, and then filled her own with the now filled water balloons, and everyone's spare cup. Everyone walked out of the bathroom, supposedly sipping innocently on their drinks. By this time they're former attackers had noticed that they were gone, they quickly snuck behind them, and were about to soak the females again, when the person they were going to attack threw the water in their faces, temporarily blinding them.

Taking advantage of their seeing disability, the girls quickly soaked them with the water from their guns. Sadly, there isn't an infantine amount of water in the super soakers, so when the girls ran out of ammo, they were in a trouble. The males of the group hadn't used up all of the water they had in stock (although Naruto did have considerably more considering a lot was wasted on him), they raised their weapons and fired.

Everyone knows that there is a time and place to retreat, and this was defiantly one of those times. Making their way back into a bathroom, they quickly refilled their water containers, before realizing their mistake. They were trapped. If they went out, they would surely be attacked once again by their 'friends'.

"What are we going to do?" Ino asked, looking at the walls of the restroom in disgust.

"I say we sacrifice one of us," Sakura suggested, looking at Ino.

"Good idea," Ino agreed brightly. "Anyone with a weird hair color and wide forehead gets kicked out!"

"Ino-pig!" Sakura said angrily.

"Billboard brow!" Ino shot back.

"P-please don't fight," Hinata stuttered quietly.

"No, let them," Akimoto said looking around.

"Why would we do that?" Tenten asked, glaring at her friends as they screamed at each other.

"Boys can't hear us talking over them," Akimoto said simply.

"Does that mean you have a plan?" Tenten whispered.

"Hai, but I'm not sure how well it'll work."

"As long as it gets us out of here," Hinata said.

Akimoto nodded, "Does anyone have a watch?" Sakura held up her wrist to signal she did, not once pausing her argument with Ino. "Excellent! All we have to do is take away all of Sakura-chan's weapons, except one which she'll hide, she'll walk out, hands in the air, saying that she just wants to put her watch in the car because it isn't waterproof. She'll do just that, and then come back here, thanking them for their kindness. But as soon as she opens the door, she'll attack them, then we'll barge out, continue with the attack, and then we're out of here!"

"You could give Shikamaru a run for his money," Tenten commented. "WILL YOU TWO GIVE IT A REST ALREADY?"

"Gomen Tenten-chan," Sakura and Ino said.

"Sakura-chan, what time is it?" Akimoto asked; giving Sakura a look that told her this was he queue.

"It's— THIS WATCH ISN'T WATERPROOF!" She yelled worry evident in her voice. She walked to the door, and banged on it. "Sasuke-kun, Naruto, will you please let me out, without attacking me?"

"Why would we do a stupid thing like that?" Sasuke asked from the other side of the door.

"I just need to put my watch in the car, it isn't waterproof and I'm afraid it'll get ruined," she explained pleadingly.

"I don't think we should trust her," came Gaara's voice.

"Come on Gaara-kun," Akimoto said, sounding annoyed. "We'll take away her weapons; she just doesn't want to get her watch broken. Its not that big of a request, one of you can follow her if it makes you feel any better."

"Come on guys, its just Sakura-chan," Naruto said. "She doesn't even have anything to attack us with."

"'_Just _Sakura-chan'?" Sakura quoted anger evident in her voice. "What's that supposed to mean?"

"Just let her out before she breaks down the door to kill Naruto," Tenten said, clearly bored.

"Fine," Sasuke said. "We won't attack, but no one but Sakura is allowed out of there, or we'll shoot."

"Deal," everyone in the small room said, backing away from the door as Sakura stepped out, her hands in the air as Akimoto had instructed.

"I'll walk with you," Sasuke said monotonously, holding up the keys to his car to signal it was locked.

"ArigatouSasuke-kun," Sakura said smiling at him.

"It's just so I can unlock the car and make sure you don't try anything sneaky while you walk away."

"Whatever you say Sasuke-kun," she said.

They reached Sasuke's car, Sakura dropped off her watch, and then they walked back to where the female population was still trapped. Everything was going according to Akimoto's plan, and Sakura was pleased to see the water balloon hit Naruto in the gut, causing him to double over, the object breaking when it hit the ground, splattering him in the face, the males looked over in confusion as the girls broke out, attacking them, and escaping.

They were chased around the park, being shot at the whole way there; it wasn't long before everyone was out of ammo once again. Here was the problem; there were only two places where you could fill up your weapons, not including the restrooms. Neji and Shikamaru had taken it upon themselves to guard said areas, so the girls were once again forced into their prison, and this time they didn't have a watch to use as a distraction.

"We're stuck," Ino stated.

"Really?" Sakura asked sarcastically. "I hadn't noticed."

"You two better not start another argument," Tenten warned.

"D-do you have any more b-brilliant plans A-Akimoto-chan?" Hinata asked, shivering so much she was stuttering.

"Sadly no," Akimoto answered, handing Hinata a jacket she'd brought with her.

"Oww!"

"What was that?" Ino asked, looking at the door with worry.

"It sounded like Naruto," Sakura said, looking puzzled.

"Ouch! Stop it!" the voice sounded again.

"It's Naruto," Tenten said, laughing.

"Can I come?" Naruto yelled through the closed door. "I want to join your team!"

"Liar!" Akimoto shouted, not one to trust their opponents at the moment.

"Please!" Naruto whined. "Sasuke-teme keeps hitting me!"

"You probably deserve it," Ino muttered.

"Why should we trust you?" Tenten asked suspiciously.

"I swear my loyalty to you," Naruto shouted.

"You're a traitor," Sasuke said.

"You should have thought about that before you started being mean to me."

"If you betray us, you'll wish you had Sasuke-kun smacking you," Akimoto threatened, opening the door just wide enough for Naruto to squeeze in.

"You can trust me!" Naruto said, grinning widely.

"Just like the boys did?"

"That's not fair Sakura-chan," Naruto whined once again. "Sasuke-teme was being mean to me, I had to show him!"

"Whatever," Akimoto said. "But until we know we can trust you entirely, you're not allowed to actually battle anyone. You get to stay in here and fill up water balloons."

"And say one word and we'll throw you out," Ino added as Naruto opened his mouth to complain once again.

"I think we should use him as a human shield and bust out of here," Tenten suggested. "Wait a minute, I've got an idea…" she looked around the room, locating a small trash can located under the paper towels. She took the plastic bag out of it, tied it in a knot, and set it in the corner of the room. She then grabbed the empty trash can and began filling it with water. "We'll fill this up, and then we'll dump it on them, and make a run for it."

"We've got two masterminds!" Sakura said excitedly.

"Who thought up the first plan?" Naruto asked.

"We're not telling you," Ino said. "If you're a spy we're not going to give you information on whose good at thinking up plans."

"Why don't you trust me?" Naruto asked, sinking onto the floor beside Hinata.

"I trust you N-Naruto-kun," she said quietly, blushing at how close he was to her.

"Why are you so cold?"

"You shot me with a w-water gun."

"Oh… I guess I did…. Do you want another jacket? I left one of mine in the teme's car."

"We're k-kind of stuck in here N-N-Naruto-kun," Hinata pointed out, blushing heavily.

"I'll grab it the next time we break out… and that'll be now." He stood up, grabbed a bunch of water balloons, opened the door, and started throwing them in random directions, missing often. He did manage to break out though, but was chased, and eventually soaked entirely, being attacked by all members of the group. The boys after simply because he was on the other team, and the girls were mad that he had wasted their balloons, but they did manage to escape, so they weren't as mad as they would have been.

While half of the girls took this time to attack the confused boys, the other half claimed a water fountain in which they could fill of their weapons without being attacked. Things seemed to be turning around for the girls, it also helped that Temari showed up, with her own gun so that she could help out.

"It's so nice to have reinforcements," Akimoto said, filling up as many water balloons as she could.

"I don't care if you're supposed to be geniuses!" Gaara was heard. "You two argue more than Ino and Sakura. I'm joining their side, at least they'll put off their arguments long enough to attack someone else."

"Naruto, you're breaking the rules!" Sakura shouted. "If their filling up their weapons, you can't attack them."

"Since when were there rules?" Naruto asked.

"It's the unwritten rules, dobe," Sasuke said, trying to fill up his gun while said annoyance was squirting him in the face. "We don't attack you, and you don't attack us. Otherwise people aren't able to fill up and eventually nobody will have any water left, and the game loses any entertainment value it might have had."

"He's right Naruto-kun," Akimoto said, she seemed to be elected the team leader, though she wasn't to happy about it. It seems that whoever the opposing team thinks is leader, gets attacked even more. "Welcome to the team Gaara-kun."

Naruto just got mad that he everyone was agreeing with Sasuke even though he was the enemy, so he continued to shoot water in his face. When yelling at him didn't work, Akimoto did the only thing that she could think of, which happened to be dumping a cup of water on his head.

"I'm on your team!" Naruto yelled.

"If you break the rules, you get punished."

"Fine," Naruto said, crossing his arms and pouting childishly. Naruto's agreement didn't last long.

"I said I was sorry!" he yelled as everyone chased him around, each throwing some form of water at him.

"They'll attack us if you keep attacking them!" Akimoto said angrily, throwing a well aimed water balloon at his back.

"I should have stayed home," he muttered as he ran out of breath and was forced to stop. Sakura punched him in the head and figured that he was punished enough, so they continued their game, apologizing for Naruto's rude behavior.

Not long after, an argument broke out among the males of the group. A battle of their own erupted, and soon Sasuke and Neji were both attacking each other.

"How did this happen?" Gaara asked, looking at the two who were currently dumping cups of water on each other.

"I've been wondering that too," Akimoto answered.

"Does this mean the teams are turning on each other?"

"I guess so, but I'm not—," her sentence was cut off when a bucket of cold water was dumped on her head. "You're going to pay for that Gaara!"

Gaara ran as Akimoto chased after him, shouting death threats the whole way. It wasn't long before she had him cornered in what he thought was a great hiding place about two minutes earlier. "I've got good news and bad news for you," she said, picking up a large stick on the ground. The good news is that I'm out of water, the bad news is that I don't care, and I found a stick."

"Don't you think that's against the rules?"

"I think attacking me without reason qualifies as against the rules."

"You were the one that said that the teams were turning on each other."

"That wasn't an invitation to soak me! And I said that I guessed so, I didn't say that that was what was happening!"

"I say you brought this upon yourself, and if I were you, I'd brace myself."

"For what?" Gaara didn't have to answer, because Shikamaru and Naruto had come to the rescue of their friend. They did this by dumping even more water on poor Akimoto. "Why me?"

"Because having Gaara beaten with a stick would be troublesome to watch," if you don't know who said that, then stop reading right now.

"And I just wanted to dump water on you," Naruto added.

"Oh, and Temari, Ino, Sakura, and Tenten kind of left…"

"Why?"

"I don't know."

"You're supposed to be a genius!"

"Doesn't mean I understand girls."

"You're worthless."

"I also have dry spots on my clothes, the same cannot be said for you."

"And whose fault is that?"

"Yours," Gaara said simply.

"YOU ATTACKED ME!"

"You were an open target."

"Akimoto has a dry spot on her back," Naruto said.

"You're point is?" Akimoto asked, then it dawned on her, then she took off running.

_I've gotta find a way out of this, _Akimoto thought as Gaara and Naruto chased after her, Shikamaru muttering something about too troublesome to join them. _I've only got one shot at this, and it'll cost me another soaking, and possibly a pain in my knee._

Luckily for her, she didn't have to injure her knee, because Naruto and Gaara were faster than she was. They quickly caught up to her and throw a few water balloons at her, making her completely and totally soaked. _I hope they fall for this,_ she thought as she began choking for air.

"What's wrong with her?" Naruto asked.

"Are you ok?"

"Can't… breathe…" Akimoto said, not dropping her act.

"Why not?" Naruto asked, but he didn't receive an answer. Akimoto dropped to the ground, and began to breathe at a somewhat steady rate.

"Are you ok Akimoto-chan?" Gaara asked, looking concerned.

"Did you just call me Akimoto-chan?"

"Never mind that," Gaara said, a light blush on his face. "What just happened?"

"I think I had a minor panic attack… but I'm not to sure…"

"You weren't breathing," Naruto pointed out.

"What gave you that idea?" Akimoto asked sarcastically.

"Naruto," Gaara said. "Help me lift her up; we should get her back home."

"Is she that heavy?"

"Naruto-kun," Akimoto said sweetly. "You're dead." Naruto didn't say anything, but grabbed Akimoto's left arm and brought it over his shoulder as Gaara did the same to her right. "I can walk you know."

"I'm sure you can," Gaara said, not loosening his grip on her.

"Sasuke-teme!" Naruto shouted, Akimoto was sure she lost a bit of hearing. "Something's wrong with Akimoto!"

"And?"

"She's sick, she stopped breathing."

"I'll unlock the car," he answered, walking to the parking lot.

**XxX**

**This was actually really close to how it happened at my family reunion. We really were trapped in a bathroom, my cousin (who is loud, blonde and obnoxious) did get smacked and switched sides. I got tons of water dumped on me, and did have to fake an attack to get them to leave me alone. However, any fluff you might have read, I made up, I love my cousins, but not that way.**

**Don't forget to review!**


	11. Chapter 10: Filler

**There is no point to this chapter at all. In fact, the only reason I'm posting it is because it is going to take me awhile to update again, and I didn't want to have anyone think I was never going to update again... anyway, if you don't like reading online conversations, than go ahead and skip this one, it won't take away from the story, and this will probably never be refrenced again.**

**XxX**

**Chapter 11: Filler**

**XxX**

**Chibi Aki has just signed in**

**Weapons Mistress: **Will you two ever give it a break?

**Pink Petals: **it's not my fault Ino can't keep her mouth shut!

**Mind Caster:** You were the one that started the argument

**Chibi Aki:** what are you guys fighting about this time?

**Weapons Mistress:** you don't want to know

**Weapons Mistress: **trust me

**Chibi Aki:** got it

**Dark Avenger:** and they say the dobe and I argue to much

**Weapons Mistress:** you do

**Chibi Aki:** there are to many rivals in this group

**Chibi Aki:** why is that?

**Weapons Mistress:** Ino-chan and Sakura-chan didn't use to be like this, they were really good friends

**Pink Petals: **ancient history

**Mind Caster:** Because of you

**Pink Petals:** I fail to see where this is my fault

**Mind Caster:** get glasses

**Weapons Mistress:** how did you guys become rivals?

**Weapons Mistress:** when we were younger you two were the best of friends

**Pink Petals:** I got tired of being number two to Ino

**Mind Caster:** and because of…

**Mind Caster:** you could have kept the ribbon

**Mind Caster:** it was a gift

**Chibi Aki:** nani?

**Pink Petals:** long story

**Weapons Mistress:** 'and because of…' what?

**Mind Caster:** something stupid

**Silent Whisperer:** I thought it was because of a genius

**Pink Petals:** where did you hear the story?

**Silent Whisperer:** you will never know

**Chibi Aki:** I'm confused

**Weapons Mistress:** your not alone

**Mind Caster: **it figures, the one time Hinata-chan decides to speak up, she turns against us

**Pink Petals:** we need a new topic

**Dark Avenger: **I second that

**Sandman has just signed in**

**Wind Sorceress has just signed in**

**Weapons Mistress: **Wow, how come our problems can't always get solved that easily?

**Chibi Aki: **Hello Gaara-kun, Temari-chan

**Sandman:** Hey

**Wind Sorceress: **Not a very enthusiastic way to greet your girlfriend

**Chibi Aki:** I'm not his girlfriend

**Sandman:** Go write in your diary Temari

**Sandman:** And make it about something interesting this time

**Wind Sorceress:** stop stealing my eyeliner Gaara

**Sandman:** I don't

**Dark Avenger:** then why do your eyes always have dark rings around them?

**Sandman:** how many bottles of hair gel do you use in a week?

**Wind Sorceress: **what were you saying about easily solved problems Tenten?

**Weapons Mistress:** you guys signed in when we were looking for a new subject

**Mind Caster: **and I must say, this is definitely entertaining

**Pink Petals:** couldn't agree more

**Chibi Aki:** didn't we have to change the subject because of you two?

**Pink Petals:** Akimoto-chan, do you want us to hurt you?

**Chibi Aki: **not really

**Pink Petals:** didn't think so

**Mind Caster: **that's because you don't think

**Pink Petals:** then why do you cheat off my tests?

**Mind Caster**: …

**Wind Sorceress:** what? No comment?

**Mind Caster:** do you want to die young?

**Silent Whisperer:** why do you like to fight with people so much Ino-chan?

**Chibi Aki:** why is everyone speaking in questions?

**Sandman:** why do you care?

**Dark Avenger:** Has everyone asked a question now?

**Weapons Mistress:** How could you forget about me?

**Wind Sorceress:** does this mean its my turn?

**Mind Caster:** we're taking turns?

**Silent Whisperer:** is this supposed to be a game?

**Chibi Aki:** why do we find entertainment in this?

**Sandman:** who said this was entertaining?

**Dark Avenger:** Are you disagreeing?

**Weapons Mistress:** why am I last?

**Wind Sorceress:** round 3 already?

**Mind Caster:** does that count as a question?

**Silent Whisperer:** are there rules to this 'game'?

**Chibi Aki:** were we supposed to make rules?

**Sandman:** Why are we still doing this?

**Dark Avenger:** if you don't like it, why don't you stop?

**Weapons Mistress:** is anyone else going to sign in any time soon?

**Wind Sorceress: **how should we know?

**Mind Caster: **do you know anything?

**Silent Whisperer: **why do you insist on arguing?

**Chibi Aki:** do you get satisfaction out of it?

**Sandman: **do you have mental problems?

**Dark Avenger: **are they worse than Gaara's?

**Weapons Mistress: **should we be worried?

**Wind Sorceress: **yeah, should we?

**Mind Caster: **why do you think I have a problem?

**Silent Whisperer: **why didn't you didn't deny it?

**Chibi Aki: **how can you in a question?

**Sandman: **Why don't we just stop talking in questions?

**Dark Avenger: **is anyone else getting bored with this?

**Weapons Mistress: **did anyone else notice that this is the only way to get Gaara and Sasuke to talk?

**Wind Sorceress: **STUPID TENTEN! I CAN'T THINK OF A QUESTION TO RESPOND TO THAT!

**Mind Caster: **Do we keep going and exclude Temari?

**Silent Whisperer: **would that be fair?

**Chibi Aki: **why didn't we make rules?

**Sandman: **how could you not think of another question?

**Dark Avenger: **are you ashamed to call her family?

**Weapons Mistress: **does this mean we keep going?

**Mind Caster: **I am getting bored of this

**Silent Whisperer: **you just ran out of questions… but I agree

**Chibi Aki: **Temari lost!

**Sandman:** baka

**Dark Avenger: **Temari or Akimoto?

**Weapons Mistress:** Please say that your not going to keep talking in questions

**Dark Avenger: **no

**Sandman:** I was talking about Temari

**Wind Sorceress: **some brother you are

**Hokage of Ramen has just signed in**

**Hokage of Ramen: **HI MINA!

**Dark Avenger: **is your keyboard still broken?

**Pink Petals:** didn't Hinata-chan take you to get a new one?

**Hokage of Ramen: **it is fixed

**Hokage of Ramen:** I just wanted to use caps lock

**Sandman: **why?

**Hokage of Ramen:** I thought it would be a dramatic enterance

**Chibi Aki: **you spelt entrance wrong

**Dark Avenger: **is the 'Hokage of Ramen had just signed in' not good enough for you?

**Weapons Mistress: **please stop talking in questions!

**Pink Petals: **I don't think it matters as long as we don't all start doing it again

**Hokage of Ramen: **did I miss something?

**Silent Whisperer: **nothing important Naruto-kun

**Mind Caster: **nothing we talk about on here is really that important

**Wind Sorceress: **you mean nothing YOU talk about is important

**Mind Caster: **you're right, because hearing about your diary from Gaara is way more fun

**Pink Petals: **Hinata's right

**Chibi Aki: **yes she is

**Dark Avenger: **what is the point of this conversation?

**Weapons Mistress: **Ask one more question and I'll stab you

**Chibi Aki: **I've got swords if you want to borrow them!

**Weapons Mistress: **I've got plenty!

**Sandman: **are all girls obsessed with weapons or just these two?

**Pink Petals: **I'm not

**Mind Caster: **I only like them when I get to punish you guys for spying on us

**Silent Whisperer: **I don't like fighting

**Wind Sorceress: **no comment

**Hokage of Ramen: **I like weapons! They're cool!

**Dark Avenger: **dobe he said 'girls'

**Sandman: **why do you think Naruto responded?

**Pink Petals: **Naruto's a girl?

**Mind Caster: **when did this happen?

**Wind Sorceress: **you guys didn't know?

**Weapons Mistress: **NOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO! NO MORE QUESTIONS! WE'RE NOT DOING THAT AGAIN!

**Deadly Curse has just signed in**

**Weapons Mistress: **finally someone sane in on!

**Pink Petals: **that's not fair! We are sane!

**Mind Caster: **minus Naruto

**Pink Petals: **that goes without saying

**Hokage of Ramen: **why are you so mean S-chan?

**Pink Petals: **S-chan?

**Hokage of Ramen: **I didn't feel like writing Sakura-chan

**Dark Avenger: **you're really lazy

**Hokage of Ramen: **no I'm not S-teme!

**Deadly Curse: **maybe I shouldn't have signed in…

**Pink Petals: **how would you like it if I called you N-kun?

**Pink Petals: **Well… Hinata-chan... I don't add 'kun' to your name

**Silent Whisperer: **Akimoto-chan adds kun to his name too

**Chibi Aki: **I add a suffix to everyone's name

**Sandman: **call me G-kun and I'll hurt you

**Chibi Aki: **I'm not as lazy as Naruto-kun

**Hokage of Ramen: **why does everyone think I'm lazy!

**Dark Avenger: **you called me S-teme

**Pink Petals: **and you called me S-chan

**Hokage of Ramen: **why does that mean I'm lazy?

**Hokage of Ramen: **my hair isn't black and look like a pineapple

**Dark Avenger: **and your definitely not a genius

**Wind Sorceress: **you can be lazy and not be Shika-kun

**Hokage of Ramen: **how come she can call him 'shika-kun' and not be called lazy, but if I call you guys S-chan and S-teme I'm called lazy?

**Deadly Curse: **because they're names aren't as long as Shikamaru's.

**Hokage of Ramen: **shut up you pupiless freak!

**Sandman: **is that a word?

**Silent Whisperer: **what's wrong with his eyes?

**Hokage of Ramen:** nothing

**Deadly Curse: **didn't think so

**Mind Caster: **if Naruto stopped writing people's names, what is he going to call the people who he doesn't normally give a suffix to?

**Wind Sorceress: **good question

**Weapons Mistress: **personally, I don't want to know.

**Deadly Curse: **neither do I

**Pink Petals: **I don't think he's lazy enough not to type the name 'Ino' chan and teme are longer than that

**Chibi Aki: **you'd think he'd just drop the suffix and keep the name

**Sandman: **he isn't that smart

**Hokage of Ramen: **WHY DOES EVERYONE PICK ON ME!

**Hokage of Ramen: **OOPS…

**Pink Petals: **what do you mean oops?

**Hokage of Ramen: **I JUST SPILT RAMEN ON MY COMPUTER

**Silent Whisperer: **Please tell me your keyboard isn't broken

**Hokage of Ramen: **PLEASE TELL ME THERE WAS A WARRANTEE

**Spandex Warrior has just signed in**

**Pink Petals has just signed out**

**Spandex Warrior: **why did the youthful Sakura-san sign out?

**Chibi Aki: **she said she had to help her mom with something

**Spandex Warrior: **I always seem to just miss her

**Weapons Mistress: **maybe someday your luck will improve

**Spandex Warrior: **maybe…

**Deadly Curse: **I thought this was a private chat room

**Weapons Mistress: **Neji be nice Lee

**Weapons Mistress: **really, you two are as bad as Naruto and Sasuke

**Mind Caster: **they're worse

**Mind Caster: **Naruto and Sasuke-kun can be best friends sometimes

**Hokage of Ramen: **THAT'S A LIE!

**Chibi Aki: **not really… you guys do seem to get along sometimes

**Dark Avenger: **you've only known us for a couple of months

**Sandman: **she's right though

**Wind Sorceress: **You're only saying that because you have a crush on Akimoto

**Spandex Warrior: **Gaara has a crush on someone?

**Deadly Curse: **didn't think that was possible

**Sandman: **go kiss a picture of Tenten

**Weapons Mistress: **who? And why do they have a picture of me?

**Sandman: **Neji, and because he's really a stalker

**Deadly Curse: **that's not ture!

**Chibi Aki: **he's so upset that he can't even type correctly

**Deadly Cure has just signed off**

**Silent Whisperer: **he's mad

**Silent Whisperer: **he just went into the training room, and he dead bolted the door

**Spandex Warrior: **he'll get over it eventually

**Mind Caster: **he has anger problems

**Chibi Aki: **sadly, most males in this town do

**Mind Caster:** you're right…

**Mind Caster: **for once

**Chibi Aki: **Kuresai

**Hidden Shadow has just signed in**

**Mind Caster: **you're late

**Hidden Shadow: **a genius is never late yamanaka ino

**Hidden Shadow: **nor is he early. he arrives precisely when he means to **(A/N: sorry, had to)**

**Wind Sorceress: **Why don't you use caps?

**Hidden Shadow: **to troublesome

**Chibi Aki: **And look what happens to Naruto-kun when he uses the caps

**Hokage of Ramen: **ITS NOT MY FAULT THAT MY COMPUTER ALWAYS BREAKS

**Dark Avenger: **Didn't you spill ramen on your keyboard and that's why it's broken?

**Hokage of Ramen: **KURESAI S-TEME!

**Hidden Shadow: **s-teme?

**Wind Sorceress: **He doesn't want to type in Sasuke's name

**Hidden Shadow: **couldn't he just drop the suffix?

**Mind Caster: **SEE NARUTO! Even Shika-kun says your being lazy!

**Hokage of Ramen: **WHY IS EVERYONE SO MEAN TO ME?

**Dark Avenger: **Because you're a dobe

**Hokage of Ramen has signed out**

**Chibi Aki: **did he sign out because he was mad, or because he has a horrible computer?

**Sandman: **don't know… maybe both…

**Wind Sorceress: **How come you only respond when Akimoto says something?

**Sandman: **Why do you leave your empty hair dye bottles laying around the house?

**Mind Caster: **You're not a natural blonde?

**Wind Sorceress: **I AM! GAARA'S JUST MAKING STUFF UP!

**Chibi Aki: **6 !'s, this must be true.

**Girls Are Icky has just signed in**

**Wind Sorceress: **Who is that?

**Weapons Mistress: **whoever he is, he's dead!

**Girls Are Icky: **Akimoto, kaa-san says to get off of the computer and come to dinner or else

**Chibi Aki: **you could have told me that yourself

**Girls Are Icky: **I don't care

**Girls Are Icky: **come to dinner its getting cold

**Chibi Aki: **fine…

**Chibi Aki: **ja ne mina

**Sandman: **see you at school

**Girls Are Icky has just signed out **

**Chibi Aki has just signed out**

**XxX**

**Sorry to all you Lee fans, but I had to do it! I personally don't have anything against Lee… besides the fact that his appearance really scares me. I even made a tribute to him on youtube .com**


	12. Chapter 11: Old Friends

**I'M BACK! And with a new PenName! I hated my old one, and now I have one that I love! Isn't everyone happy? Well… ok, so chances are no one's reading this, but I'm going to type it anyway Ok, enough happy news, GOMEN NASAI! For those who know what I'm talking about, this isn't the chapter I was going to write. However, all but about three of you, don't know that, so you don't need to worry about it. I've added some drama to this chapter! I hope that'll kind of make up for my horrible wrongdoing.**

**The filler for last chapter was simply a filler; this chapter takes place directly after the water park scene.**

**XxX**

**Old Friends**

**XxX **

"Oh no," Sakura gasped. "This is bad, this is really bad…"

"What's wrong with her?" Naruto asked, looking worried.

"Well… she _should_ be fine… but just in case, I think I should take a look at her. Akimoto, please come in here," she practically shoved Akimoto into her room, shutting the door behind her.

"What's wrong with me? I faked that attack," Akimoto said, looking at Sakura as if she was insane.

"I know that," Sakura said as she poked her head out the door. "Ino, Tenten-chan, come in here I need your help!"

"What's wrong with Akimoto-chan?" Tenten asked as she and her companion walked into the room.

"She was brought into my house, with Gaara carrying her."

"Nani!" Ino practically screamed.

"That was my ear," Akimoto said.

"Gaara carried you here?" Tenten asked in mild surprise.

"He and Naruto-kun helped me walk here, its no big deal."

"It's a huge deal!" Ino said. She also went into a long talk about something, but everyone just kind of blocked her out until she was done.

"You talk a lot," Tenten pointed out.

"Shouldn't you be used to it by now?" Sakura asked, flipping through a magazine looking bored.

"I don't hang out with her as much as you do."

"Lucky you…"

"I'm right here," Ino said irritably. "I can hear every word your saying about me."

"Then we won't have to repeat ourselves," Sakura said, not looking up from her magazine.

Someone began banging on the door. "What's going on in there?" Naruto asked, sounding concerned. "We heard someone scream, and then Ino started talking a lot… is Akimoto going to die?"

"None of your business, we know we had to listen to it, and possibly." Tenten said, smiling.

"AKIMOTO'S GOING TO DIE!" Naruto yelled.

"When did this happen?"

"Naruto-kun," Akimoto said. "Whose there with you?"

"Gaara and Sasuke, why?"

"Sasuke-kun is in my house!"

"Not something I'm proud of, but yes."

"When did you get here?"

"Open the door; I'm not talking through it."

"Everybody out," Sakura said as she put her reading material away and began walking towards her bedroom door. "When did you get here Sasuke-kun?"

"About five minutes ago."

"Why are you here?" Akimoto asked, taking a seat on Sakura's couch.

"The dobe called me, saying that I should get here in case I needed to drive someone to the hospital because Ino was yelling and he thought someone was going to die."

"I'm bored," Naruto complained loudly, interrupting the nice little conversation Sasuke and Sakura were having.

"I think Sasuke-kun had a point…" Akimoto said, remembering the day she had met her group of friends.

"About what?" Naruto asked.

"When we first met, he said that 'saying it's nice to meet you would be the biggest lie of your life' or something along those lines…."

"What's that have to do with anything?"

"I said that when she was being introduced to you," Sasuke said simply.

"At least I can still breathe when people dump water on my head," Naruto said, crossing his arms and pouting.

"Drop it Naruto," Gaara said coldly.

"Did my house become a meeting place for everyone?" Sakura asked, not noticing Gaara was still present.

"Neji-kun, Hinata-chan, Temari, and Shikamaru aren't here," Tenten said.

They heard the front door open and Sakura's mom yelled her greeting.

"Sakura, I'm going to need you and your friends to hang out somewhere else today," she said entering the room.

"Nande?" Sakura asked.

"Just because, now out."

"Hai kaa-san," Sakura groaned before standing up.

"Where are we going to hang out?" Ino asked as they exited the house.

"My house is open," Akimoto said. "Kaa-san is away on a trip of some sort and my little brother is staying at a friend's."

"We can take my car," Sasuke suggested. "It'll be crowded, but faster than walking."

"I call shotgun!" Sakura called, already halfway into her regular seat. It wasn't an easy task, but somehow the group of teens managed to squeeze into Sasuke's vehicle and made it to Akimoto's house, thankful for the escape. They made there way into Akimoto's house; each collapsing onto the furniture as if they had ran the entire way there.

"We're lucky we didn't get pulled over," Sakura commented.

"I don't think it's natural to be this tired from a car ride," Ino thought out loud.

"I don't think it has anything to do with being tired," Tenten said wisely. "It's about how lazy we are."

"We've been spending too much time with Shikamaru-kun," Akimoto said. "Next thing you know we'll want to watch clouds and sleep all day."

Everyone sat for a few minutes, enjoying each other's company… ok, so the females of the group; it's kind of hard to tell when Gaara, Sasuke, or Neji are enjoying anything. This is how they were found when the doorbell was suddenly run about six times.

"Someone's impatient," Sasuke said smirking as Akimoto stood up to answer the door.

"AKI-CHAN I KNOW YOU'RE IN HERE!" Someone yelled as the burst through Akimoto's front door.

"Aki-chan?" Sakura asked.

"Miharu-chan," Akimoto said, sounding slightly worried.

"Who's Miharu?" Naruto asked.

"AKI-CHAN I KNOW THIS IS WHERE YOU LIVE!" The voice screamed once again.

"I'm in here Miharu-chan," Akimoto yelled, though not nearly as loud as the voice.

A blur of color was seen as Akimoto was suddenly engulfed in a hug by a strange girl with forest green hair and mischievous looking grey eyes. She wore a dark green tube top and a black miniskirt, her long hair tied up in a high pony tail.

"Hi," Akimoto said weakly, either because she didn't know what else to say, or because of lack of air, it was hard to tell.

"That's all you have to say to me?" the girl asked, now glaring. "You haven't seen me in months and all you have to say is 'hi'!"

"She's scarier than Ino," Naruto whispered.

"I call you once a week and email you everyday," Akimoto pointed out, hoping that her friend didn't hear Naruto's comment.

"I guess you're right… who are your friends?"

"Strange people, I assure you," Akimoto said solemnly, receiving a few glares.

"Just like you?" her friend asked.

"Of course," Akimoto said grinning. "This is Uzumaki Naruto," Naruto grinned as he was introduced, "Haruno Sakura," Sakura smiled politely, "Yamanaka Ino," Ino waved, "Tenten," Tenten bowed her head in recognition, "Uch--,"

"You're friends with Uchiha Sasuke?" she was interrupted as Sasuke inwardly groaned, great, another fan girl.

"Yeah," Akimoto said as if it was nothing.

"Wait until I tell Nakamura-chan," Miharu said, grinning. "She's on his fan page almost every day… ok, everyday…"

Akimoto laughed and nodded, "I remember that, she's completely obsessed with him… Anyway, this is Subaku no Gaara," if Gaara heard that he was introduced, he didn't show it. "Everyone, this is Miharu-chan." Everyone said their greeting, and Akimoto offered her old friend a seat so they could catch up and she could get better acquainted with her new friends.

"It's very nice to meet you Gaara-kun," Miharu said, giggling slightly. Gaara glanced at her, either in annoyance or to show he was listening was hard to tell, but Miharu took it as a sign he was interested in what she was saying. "Where are you from? You don't seem to be from Konohagakure."

"Sunagakure," he said simply.

"Fascinating," Miharu said, looking at him in awe.

"I though she came here to see Akimoto-chan," Sakura whispered to Ino and Tenten.

"Miharu," Tenten said, noticing the death glare Akimoto was giving her friend. "What brings you to here?"

"Aki-chan had been ignoring me, so I thought I'd drop in and say hi," she said, her eyes still locked on Gaara.

"I wasn't ignoring you," Akimoto reminded her.

"You hadn't come by to visit," her friend shot back, finally tearing her eyes away from Gaara.

"I can't drive," Akimoto pointed out. "And you live two towns away; I'm not walking that far."

"You have a point… but still, you could have made a bigger effort to keep in touch," Akimoto choose not to respond, she simply shook her head in defeat. There was no arguing with this girl.

"So," Sakura said, attempting to start a conversation that didn't in an argument. "How did your friend hear about Sasuke-kun?"

"I don't know…" Miharu confessed. "Nakamura-chan just showed up to school one day with a shirt with his face on it… it was kind of creepy…"

"They have shirts with my face on them?" Sasuke asked in disgust.

"Yeah… they look cool; they're grey with blue writing on it… I just couldn't get over the fact that she had a shirt with a picture of someone I had never met before…"

"I've seen those shirts," Ino said. "I used to have one," Sasuke's right eye twitched.

"That's really creepy Ino-chan," Tenten said.

"Forehead had one too!"

"Who's forehead?"

"You gave it to me Ino-pig!" Sakura shot back, answering Miharu's question in the process. "I never said I wanted it."

"You kept it."

"I didn't want to seem rude by throwing away a gift with you standing there."

"But calling her 'Ino-pig' isn't rude," Tenten muttered.

"She calls me 'forehead girl' so that cancels out," Sakura said simply.

"You certainly have a lot of new interesting friends Aki-chan… they kind of scare me…"

"You're not the only one," Sasuke muttered.

"Did you come here by yourself Miharu?" Naruto asked, glaring at Sasuke.

"No Yamada came with me," she said rolling her eyes. "We got separated though…"

"Yamada-kun came too?" Akimoto asked.

"Yeah… no one else wanted to drive me, and he said he missed you… I wonder where he went…."

"I'm sure he's around here somewhere," Akimoto said, sounding slightly worried. "But just incase, maybe we should go look for him."

"Good idea," Miharu agreed. "You guys want to come?"

"Got nothing better to do," Sakura said standing up.

"Maybe we'll find Shika-kun, Neji-san, and Hinata-chan, on the way," Ino said helping Tenten to her feet.

"Who?"

"Our other friends," Tenten explained, "Nara Shikamaru and the Hyuuga cousins Neji and Hinata."

"That names sounds familiar… Hyuuga… Hyuuga… I know that from somewhere…" Miharu said, deep in thought. "Oh well, I'm sure it'll come to me."

"Where did you last see Yamada-kun?" Akimoto asked as they all exited the house.

"He said he wanted needed to go do something while he was here, so he dropped me off and drove away somewhere… it was really weird."

"What does he look like?" Sasuke asked. "It'll be pointless wondering around trying to find someone if we don't know what we're looking for."

"He has black hair," Miharu started. "He's about my height, deep green eyes, and he's wearing a pair of blue jeans and a red T-shirt."

"Maybe we should split up and look for him," Akimoto suggested. "That way we cover more ground."

"Good idea," Miharu said. "We'll have to go in two groups because we're the only ones who know Yamada looks like. I'll take Gaara-kun, Tenten and Ino with me, then you can search with Naruto, Sasuke and Sakura," Miharu grinned and grabbed Gaara and Ino's wrists, dragging them off before anyone could object.

"Take deep breaths Akimoto-chan," Sakura said, noticing the flames in her friend's eyes.

"I don't like her," Sasuke stated simply.

"Neither do I," Naruto agreed. "She didn't even glance at me once."

"She's always been like this," Akimoto said, glaring as she turned and began her search for Yamada. "When I still went to school with her, if I made a new friend or she found out I had a crush on someone, she wouldn't stop until she made them her best friend, or she'd ask the person I liked to go on a date with her. She completely strips me of any self-confidence and makes me feel worthless whenever she's around."

"Is that why she wouldn't stop staring at Gaara?" Sakura asked.

"Probably," Akimoto said, not even realizing what she was saying. "I told her I made some new friends and that there was this boy that I really liked, and what does she do? She comes over here and drags him a…way… YOU TRICKED ME!"

"Gomen Akimoto-chan," Sakura said, smiling sweetly.

"You like Gaara?" Naruto asked.

"Dobe," Sasuke muttered.

"One day I'm going to be Hokage and then you can't call me that anymore!" Naruto yelled.

"I don't care if you are Hokage, as long as you're a dobe, I'm going to call you one."

"Sasuke-kun is right Naruto," Sakura said.

"What did I do to be considered a dobe?" Naruto asked.

"That depends," Sasuke said.

"On what?"

"How long are you counting?" Sakura asked.

"What do you mean?"

"They mean," Akimoto said. "Are you asking what you did to be a dobe today, or your entire life?"

"Today," Naruto said rolling his eyes.

"You're completely oblivious to—hey, who's that?" Sakura interrupted herself as she pointed to a boy their age she hadn't seen before.

"YAMADA-KUN!" Akimoto yelled, waving at the boy.

"Akimoto-san," he said, turning where he had heard the voice. Akimoto ran over to the boy and gave him a hug.

"I haven't seen you in forever! How have you been?"

"Miharu is installable without you around, Akimoto-san," he replied.

"How many times do I have to tell you not to call me that?"

"Would you rather I called you Aki-chan?" Akimoto shuttered.

"Yamada-kun, these are my friends, Uzumaki Naruto, Haruno Sakura, and Uchiha Sasuke."

"Nice to meet you all," Yamada said. "Have you told Nakamura-san that you're friends with the Uchiha Sasuke?"

"Miharu said the same thing," Naruto said. "Why does everyone think Sasuke-teme is so cool?"

"Miwa-chan doesn't think so," Akimoto said grinning. "She argues with Nakamura-chan over it. Her side of the argument is 'Uchiha's best friend is _way _better than he'll ever be. How can you like someone who has no emotion whatsoever?' No offence Sasuke-kun," Akimoto added quickly.

"Who's his best friend?" Naruto asked, everyone sweat dropped.

"She was referring to you," Sakura said, rubbing her temples in annoyance.

"Oh… wait… how does she know about me?"

"Sasuke fanatics get together, spy one him, then get information," Yamada explained. "They then post said information on fan pages they have of him. Since you're his best friend, you come up every so often. They also have dart boards with pictures of Sakura-san on them."

"Nani?" Sakura yelled.

"Not just you… there's also one with a girl with buns, two blonde girls, and a girl with white eyes."

"Why do they have dart boards of Sakura, Tenten, Ino, Temari, and Hinata?" Sasuke asked, almost fearing the answer.

"They're girls who hang out with you… I've also seen one with Akimoto-sama on it."

"I'M GOING TO HURT YOU!" Akimoto said, apparently not impressed with his version of her name.

"Its fun to make you mad though," Yamada said, dodging her fist that was about to make impact with his head.

"Fine," Akimoto said glaring. "Whatever you say… Yama-chan."

"That's not funny."

"You don't like your nickname Yama-chan? Miharu-chan calls you that all the time."

"She calls you Aki-chan," he shot back.

"Everybody calls me that."

"We don't," Naruto pointed out.

"And I can't thank you enough," she said, smiling brightly at them.

"Where do you think Ino-pig went?" Sakura asked.

"Shoot, I forgot about them. I bet Miharu's having a blast dragging Gaara-kun around."

"Gaara-kun?" Yamada asked, grinning. "Did our little Akimoto-chan get a boyfriend?"

Akimoto's face rivaled Hinata's, "He's not my boyfriend," she muttered.

"That's good," Yamada said solemnly. "Because break ups are hard and if Miharu gets her way… you know what happens."

"I'll call pig-chan," Sakura said, pulling out her cell phone. "They said they'd meet us at Akimoto-chan's place," Sakura said, as she hung up her phone. "And they met up with Neji-san."

**XxX**

Everyone met up at Akimoto's house, introductions followed, and the chaos started.

"Its very nice to meet you Tenten-san," Yamada said, bowing respectfully.

"You can call me Tenten," she responded, a light blush on her face.

"I've been telling him to drop the 'san' on my name for years," Akimoto grumbled.

"Why were you two here again?" Neji asked, glaring at Yamada.

"We came to see Aki-chan," Miharu answered. "She didn't tell us she had such cute friends though," she added, taking a seat next to Gaara, who didn't seem to notice her presence.

"This is true," Yamada said. "Though I doubt Akimoto would say that about her female friends," Akimoto give a silent cheer at the lack of suffix added to her name, and Neji was close to losing his temper. "Maybe I could have your number or something so we could keep in touch," Yamada suggested.

This is where the once calm Hyuuga Neji, completely loses it. "Why would she want to do a thing like that?"

"Why do you care? Its not like _you're _her boyfriend."

"She doesn't like overly self confident flirts like yourself, so you're really wasting your time."

"How do you know what she likes?"

"She's my best friend," Tenten grinned. Its not every day _the_ Hyuuga Neji calls you his best friend. "I know more about her than you ever will."

"We'll just have to change that, now won't we." If someone walked in the room it would look like the other occupants of the room were watching a tennis match, their heads turning from one boy to the other waiting for their comeback.

"We need popcorn," Ino whispered to Sakura as Neji and Yamada continued their verbal battle.

"I really don't see why you insist on talking for her. Do you think she isn't capable of speaking for herself."

"Do you even remember her name?" Neji asked, subconsciously activating his Byakugan.

"You're the one using pronouns."

"What's her name?"

"Tenten," so Neji lost this battle, but not the war.

"What's her surname?" Sakura and Ino smiled, Akimoto shook her head, Sasuke smirked, Naruto brought in a bowl of popcorn, and Tenten rolled her eyes.

"Umm…"

"You forgot it already? How pathetic," Neji said, regaining his composure.

"Akimoto-hime didn't tell me her surname when she was introduced," Yamada pointed out.

"Is that your excuse?"

"Neji, give the guy a break," Tenten said, getting annoyed with their argument.

"Nande?"

"Don't question her," Yamada said defensively.

"Yeah Neji-kun, don't question me."

"I love a good love filled argument," Sakura said, munching on popcorn with Ino, Naruto, and Akimoto.

"I don't," Akimoto said, glaring at Miharu.

"Not when you're in it," Ino explained, "but watching is fun."

"Ino, you're hogging the popcorn," Naruto complained loudly, getting everyone's attention.

"Why do you have popcorn?" Neji asked, breathing deeply in annoyance. "Do you find this amusing?"

"Very," Naruto said before anyone could stop him.

"Wow, look at the time," Ino said, glancing at an imaginary watch.

"We really should be going," Sakura said, also looking at her empty wrist.

"Sit," Neji commanded as the two females inched towards the door.

"Demo," Sakura started, lost for words.

"We _need _to get home," Ino supplied.

"Its two o'clock," Tenten said, looking part angry, part amused.

"Sasuke-kun needs to get home though," Sakura said, thinking quickly as Chakra began to form in Neji's hands. "And since he's my ride, I really need to go."

"I'm in no hurry," Sasuke said, smirking.

"You're friends sure are violent Aki-chan," Miharu said. "Except for Gaara-kun, he's perfect."

"What's your name again?" Gaara asked the girl who was sitting extremely close to him.

"Miharu," she answered, smiling sweetly at him.

"Ok," Gaara said, sighing. "I'm going to say this once, and only once. You. Are. Annoying. I want nothing to do with you. If you don't move away from me in the next five seconds, you'll see who's violent in this group of people."

Akimoto let out a silent cheer, Miharu looked shocked, Ino and Sakura were trying (unsuccessfully) to hide their laughter, Neji had forgotten his anger, Naruto was rolling on the floor he was laughing so hard, Sasuke snickered, and Yamada was staring in amazement. As far as Akimoto and Yamada knew, Miharu had never been rejected, and if she was, it had never been so brutally.

"I think you're running out of time, Miharu-chan," Akimoto said, smiling at her friend.

Miharu did something both brave and extremely stupid, she giggled, "You're such a kidder Gaara-kun."

"Is she insane?" Sakura asked an awed Ino.

"I think she might be…"

"I'm not telling her parents."

"I'm not taking care of the corpse."

"Akimoto," Naruto said seriously. "Is your friend suicidal?"

"I don't think she is… then again…"

"I'm. Not. Joking." Gaara said, venom in his voice. "Get. Away. From. Me."

"Do you always play hard to get?"

"Akimoto-chan," Gaara said.

Akimoto was pleased that he added the title, even if it was just to get her friend away from him. "Nani Gaara-kun?"

"Do you feel any sort of emotional attachment to her, or can I destroy her now?"

"How sweet," Sakura said. "He's giving her a choice weather or not he'll kill her friend."

"I didn't think he cared," Ino admitted.

"Don't kill her Gaara-kun," Akimoto said, ignoring her friend's comments. "I just cleaned the house," she muttered so no one could hear her.

"I won't kill her, but make her get away from me."

"Like I have any control over her… but I could tell Yamada-kun what you said about his--," she was cut off.

"You promised never to tell anyone about that, Akimoto," Miharu shrieked, scooting away from Gaara all the same.

"I did? Hmm…" Akimoto looked thoughtful. "I guess I did, but I also recall you saying that you would stop doing what you're doing right now. So if you break your end of the deal, I don't see why I should hold up mine…."

"Go Akimoto-chan," Ino whispered to Sakura, who nodded in agreement.

"I have no idea what you're talking about," Miharu insisted.

"Of course you don't," Tenten muttered, taking a seat next to Sakura and Ino, and grabbing a handful of popcorn.

"I'm not to sure when you became like this Aki-chan, but I don't like it very much."

"You mean when I started standing up for myself?" Akimoto said, glaring at her old friend.

"If that's what you cant to call it," Miharu said. "Maybe coming to visit you wasn't such a good idea."

"Coming to visit was a great idea," Akimoto shot back. "But being yourself was where you made your mistake."

"Come on Yamada, we're leaving. Sayonara Akimoto."

"Ja ne Akimoto-_chan_," Yamada said, when he was sure Miharu couldn't hear him. "I'll come by to visit sometime, but I'll bring better company."

"Ja ne Yamada-kun," Akimoto said, smiling and giving him a quick hug good bye. "Say hi to everyone for me."

"Well that was interesting," Sasuke said as they heard the car pull out of the driveway.

"Akimoto," Naruto said seriously. "You had some insane friends."

Akimoto sat down between Ino and Tenten, "I still do. But these ones are a way better insane."

"Of course we are!" Sakura said, setting the now empty popcorn bowl on the floor.

"Can't get much better than this," Akimoto said, smiling. "An eyeliner wearing male, an emotionless ice cube, a genius with serious fate issues, a weapon obsessed female, a loudmouth Hokage wannabe, a pig, a forehead, a stuttering heiress, a lazy genius, a girl with too many pig tails, and the crazy new kid that can't help but like them…. Sounds like a pretty normal group…"

"Pretty accurate description," Naruto nodded. "Sasuke-teme's an ice cube!"

"Dobe, you're a Hokage wannabe."

**XxX**

**Yay! I updated! Isn't everyone excited? Well, I am XP 11 PAGES! Anyway, school's starting (booing) so updates will be pretty slow, but I'll still try to update as often as possible. **

**Well, everyone got to meet two of Akimoto's old friends, scary aren't they. They are based off of people I met… stupid Dar—err I mean, Miharu… yeah… Miharu… Story recommendation! 'It's Just Highschool or is it?' by Everlite, not your everyday high school fic, very good, highly recommended (unless you're a big fan of Temari's (no pun intended)). **

**Ok, I'm done with my pathetic babbling that I'm sure no one is reading, HOMEMADE COOKIES FOR EVERYONE WHO REVIEWS! And, as an added bonus, they might not be poisonous! **


	13. Chapter 12: Theme Songs, Naps, Unconciou

**Wow, you guys are really trusting. People were demanding cookies, after I said that they _might _not be poisoned. Do you really think it's a good idea to piss off the person who's considering poisoning you (you know who you are, I LOVE COOKIES!) **

**Anyway, I got a lot of requests for more romance, and the first specific one I got was SasuSaku, so that pairing will be more centered in the chapter. If you feel that you pairing isn't getting enough time, drop a review and make a request (whether or not I'll be able to add it is another story, especially if you request a pairing that I don't completely agree with.)**

**XxX**

**Theme Songs, Naps, and Unconsciousness**

**XxX**

Akimoto was slightly amazed. It had been a week since her _dear _friends had come to visit her, and this was the first time she could remember all of the group in one place together. They were all at Ino's house, since her mom was at the flower shop and her dad was on a mission.

"Ino vs. Sakura, round two," Neji muttered. It was true; the two best friends were currently having a very heated conversation that cannot be repeated if I don't change the rating of the story.

"Loathing, unadulterated loathing," Tenten sang.

"What are you singing Tenten-chan?" Akimoto asked, laughing.

"Their theme song," Tenten said, and then continued her little song, getting louder so the arguing girls could hear her. "For your hair, your voice, your clothing. Lets just say, I loath it all…"

"Tenten-chan," Sakura said sweetly.

"What are you doing?" Ino added, in the same tone.

"She's singing your theme song," Naruto said, laughing joyfully. "Did you not hear her say that to Akimoto-chan?"

"THAT IS NOT OUR THEME SONG!" Sakura and Ino yelled in unison.

"Of course it isn't," Hinata said, trying to break up the potential fight.

"I don't know," Sasuke said, smirking. "It does seem to fit you guys pretty well."

"Not you too Sasuke-kun," Sakura whined.

"Of course he'd turn on you," said Ino.

"Round three in the last half hour," Temari commented.

"Every little trait however small, makes my very flesh begin to crawl," Tenten sang, continuing her song. The arguing girls choose to ignore her. "I don't remember the next lyric," Tenten sighed.

"With simple utter loathing," Hinata muttered.

"You know the song Hinata-chan?" Tenten asked, in surprise. Hinata nodded, trying to ignore the death glares she was getting from Ino and Sakura. Tenten began to question her about different things about the song and its origins, deciding on which girl belonged to the different character.

"Any idea what they're talking about?" Akimoto asked Gaara, taking a seat next to him.

"Which pair?"

"The ones that aren't at each other's throats."

"I haven't the slightest idea."

"What about you Temari-chan?"

"I've been waiting for Sakura-chan to punch Ino's lights out to notice what they were talking about," Temari replied, not taking her eyes off of argument in front of her.

"Do you think we should try to break the fight up?" Naruto asked, looking worried at Temari's statement.

"Probably."

"Hai."

"Do we have to?"

"I'll do it," Sasuke said, looking upset at his choice already. "Sakura, I'm leaving; do you want me to give you a ride home?"

"Really Sasuke-kun," hearts surrounded Sakura, her inner self was having a celebration.

"Are you coming or not?"

"Of course, ja ne mina!" she said happily.

"Good luck," Shikamaru muttered as Sasuke walked past him, he groaned slightly in reply.

"Yamanaka, do you have any good movies?" Temari asked.

"Pick one out," Ino said, showing Temari where her videos were located.

**XxX**

"Thanks for giving me a ride Sasuke-kun," Sakura said, happily flipping through stations on his radio.

"Hn," he responded.

"Someday you're going to have to tell me what that means Sasuke-kun," Sakura insisted.

"Hn."

"Oh, so now I'm annoying," she was quickly becoming angry.

"You've always been," Sasuke assured her. "But I haven't called you that today."

"You just did," Sakura pointed out. "And the second 'hn' meant that I was annoying."

"No it didn't," Sasuke said, silently cursing himself for pitiful come back.

"Of course it did. Now you're lying to me."

"I thought you were the smartest girl in our grade," Sasuke muttered. "Where do you get such stupid ideas?"

"If it didn't mean that I was annoying then what did it mean?" Inner Sakura was cheering her clever strategy.

"Something besides that," Sasuke said, causing inner Sakura to throw a fit.

"It does mean that I was annoying," Sakura's eyes welled up with tears. "You hate me!"

_Why did I agree to this? _Sasuke thought. "I don't hate you."

"Now you're lying to me!" tears were threatening to fall.

_She could have stood her ground against Ino, there was no reason for me to bring her home. _"Where did you get the idea I was lying?"

"You didn't deny it," Sakura wailed into her hands.

Sasuke sighed, "I don't hate you, and I'm not lying. I have no reason to lie." Sakura wasn't convinced. "Stop with the water works," she sobbed louder. "What can I say that'll make you stop crying?"

"Why don't you just drop me off here Sasuke-kun, I can walk from here," she turned out the window so he couldn't see her face.

"You're house is too far," he reasoned.

"I'll be fine," she insisted.

"Sakura, you're not walking. Now calm down. You're stronger than this."

"How would you know," she muttered. "You don't pay any attention to me. I'm annoying, remember."

_I remember very clearly. _"I pay attention…"

"You'd rather be alone anyway," Sakura still hadn't faced him. "You'll be happier if I walk the rest of the way anyway."

"_You _wouldn't be happy."

"I've gotten used to that," she whispered. "Being in love with you means heartbreak, and you can't be happy with a broken heart."

"Then give up."

"I can't," her voice was barely audible. "I've tried. I've tried very hard, but it doesn't matter. You can't force yourself to fall out of love with someone. I guess this doesn't make a whole lot of sense to you, you don't love anyone. This'll just make you think I'm even more annoying."

"Do you really think you know me that well?"

"I don't have to know everything about you, but I know enough. This is my stop." Sasuke pulled over to the side of her driveway, but locked the doors. "Let me out Sasuke-kun."

"Even when you're in tears, you never drop the 'kun'," Sasuke muttered.

"If I did, it would mean I've given up hope, and I can't do that. It doesn't matter what you do or say."

Sasuke unlocked the doors and Sakura attempted to climb out, but something held her back. She looked down at her wrist, grasped firmly in Sasuke's calloused hand. "Will you stop crying and be happy if I do this?" he asked, and he leaned in and kissed her softly on the cheek. She blushed and got out of the car.

"I'll see you at school Sasuke-kun."

**XxX**

"I've gotta hand it to you Temari," Ino whispered. "Even if you picked the most boring movie I own, some good came out of it."

"Nani?"

"That's so sweet!" Tenten cooed.

"Kawaii," Hinata said quietly.

"I don't see what the big deal is," Naruto said, looking at the females as if they were crazy.

"You wouldn't," Temari said, realizing what they were talking about.

"I fall asleep all the time," Shikamaru commented. "You guys don't awe over me."

"You'd be surprised," Neji muttered.

"You're going to wake her up," Gaara muttered, looking anywhere but his friends, and especially his older sister.

Sitting on the couch where they had been watching the movie were Gaara and Akimoto, and Ino was right. Temari had picked out a boring movie, so boring that it had put Akimoto to sleep. She was curled up with her feet tucked underneath her, and her head resting on Gaara's lap. Without anywhere else to rest his arm, Gaara had laid it along her arm. Anyone who didn't know any better would think that he looked like a protective boyfriend, guarding her from the rest of the world.

Ino waked out of the room grabbed a camera. She walked into the room, hiding the treasure behind her back, walking casually into the center of the room, she pulled it out. "I'll kill you," Gaara warned.

"I'll make copies, and guard them," Temari vowed.

"I will make sure they make it into the yearbook," Tenten promised.

"You're death will not be in vain Ino-chan," Hinata said solemnly.

"If you take a picture, Neji and I will hold him off," Naruto added, Neji nodding in agreement.

"In that case," Ino aimed the camera, and snapped about five pictures from different angles. "I can't wait to show forehead-chan!"

"I can show her now," Tenten said proudly, pulling out a phone. "I love technology."

"Send it to Sasuke-teme too," Naruto said, after Tenten had taken the picture and they had crowded around to see it.

They all had a laugh at Gaara's expense. "It's your own fault," Neji said. "You shouldn't have let her fall asleep on you… or sit by you…."

"I almost forgot," Tenten said. "I was going to ask her if she had Yamada-_kun'_ s number, I guess I'll have to ask tomorrow…." Neji scowled.

"I thought you said you didn't like him."

"I thought you said you didn't care."

"Aww he's blushing," Ino said.

"Aww he's angry," Temari joined in.

"Do you really think you should be teasing him when he doesn't have a weight on his lap to hold him down?" Shikamaru asked.

"I'm going to go on a walk," Hinata announced quietly.

"You shouldn't go by yourself Hinata-chan, I'll go with you," Naruto said, standing up and walking to the door.

"You d-don't have to N-Naruto-kun," Hinata said, a blush on her pale face. Naruto waved it off, saying he wanted some fresh air.

"I also didn't want to see Neji get mad," Naruto added.

"And Akimoto-chan would probably wake up soon, its best to put some distance between us and them," Hinata pointed out.

"Wow you really thought this through," Naruto said, clearly impressed. "You're a genius Hinata! I bet you'd make a great mother." Hinata fainted. "Kuso," Naruto muttered. He ran back to Ino's house, carrying Hinata bridal style.

**XxX**

"Naruto what did you do to her?"

"I didn't do anything! We were just talking and then she passed out. Don't kill me Neji!"

"Baka! You did something to Hinata-sama, why shouldn't I kill you?"

"Because you can't kill the next Hokage," Naruto said, having trouble thinking of a reason at the moment.

"Like you'd ever become Hokage," Ino said rolling her eyes.

"I'm going to become Hokage and there's nothing you can do to stop me," this statement was true. There was nothing Ino could do, because its hard to do anything to someone when they are currently being strangled by Neji.

"Neji-kun," Tenten said, trying to pry him off of Naruto, who was changing colors. "Neji-kun you're going to suffocate him." No effect. "Hinata-chan wouldn't want him dead," he wasn't listening. "What should I do?" she asked her friends, not sure how to get Neji off of Naruto.

"What's going on?" Akimoto asked, rubbing her eyes as she sat up.

"Neji's killing Naruto," Gaara said as casually as if they were discussing the weather.

"Nani? Why isn't anyone stopping him?"

"Have any suggestions?" Tenten asked.

"Kiss him," Akimoto answered. "It'll send him into shock, and he'll forget about his anger for Naruto-kun."

Tenten was having trouble speaking, "I-I-I c-c-can't-t-t… d-demo… NO."

"Naruto isn't breathing," Ino said. "Neji-san, you should get off of him, Hinata-chan faints all the time."

"Only when _he _does something to her," Neji muttered.

"Tenten-chan do something!"

"Why do I have to?"

"He only listens to you."

"He's not right now."

"Akimoto-chan, I blame you," Tenten muttered before kneeling down beside Neji. "Gomen Neji-kun," and with that she….

**XxX**

**Do you hate me? It's taken me forever to update, and this chapter is pretty short, plus, a horrible, horrible cliffhanger. Well, next chapter will be up sooner, and it'll be way longer. If anyone has questions, comments, death threats, proclamations of stalkership (which is so a real word), or to tell me to get back to the asylum, drop a review!**

**IMPORTANT NOTICE: FIRST PERSON WHO KNOWS THE NAME OF THE SONG AND WHERE IT'S FROM GETS A ONESHOT DEDICATED TO THEM.  
**

**Ja ne!**


	14. Chapter 13: Sasuke's Purchase

**Guess what minna! I've had this chapter done for weeks! I forgot to post it though… gomen!**

**XxX**

**Sasuke's Purchase**

**XxX **

"_Akimoto-chan, I blame you," Tenten muttered before kneeling down beside Neji. "Gomen Neji-kun," and with that she…._

Pulled out a kunai and smacked him on the head with the blunt end of it.

"How is that my fault?" Akimoto asked as Neji blinked a couple times before shaking his head and releasing his grip on Naruto.

"You said to make him go into shock so he'd let go of Naruto," Tenten explained. "I just… didn't follow your suggestion."

"Still don't see how it's my fault," Akimoto muttered.

"Gomen Naruto," Neji said, helping him to his feet. "Guess I got a little carried away…"

"A little!" Naruto squeaked, still not able to speak properly.

"Why don't we go out and do something," Ino suggested. "I'm getting bored."

"Where do you want to go?" Shikamaru asked, not getting up from his comfy position on the couch.

"I was hoping you guys would have some suggestions," Ino responded.

"We can't go anywhere until Hinata-chan wakes up," Tenten pointed out. Neji stood up and walked into Ino's kitchen, ignoring the questions that followed him. He then grabbed a cup and filled it half way with water. Walking back into the room he kneeled beside the unconscious form of his younger cousin.

"Gomen naisai Hinata-sama," he whispered before dumping the glass on her face, successfully waking her up.

"Nani?" Hinata asked, shooting up into a sitting position.

"You passed out, Neji tried to kill Naruto, Tenten smacked him in the head, Ino wanted to leave, Neji poured water on you," Gaara summarized. Hinata blinked, wondering vaguely if she had different friends this information would have startled her.

"D-did you guys d-decide on where you w-were going?"

"Not yet," Akimoto answered. "We'd just established that you needed to be woken up. Although, there are nicer ways to do it…."

"That was the most effective and efficient way to do it," Neji defended himself.

"We could have let her wake up on her own, while we brainstormed ideas."

"Let's go to the mall, I'm sure we'll find something to do there," Ino said, looking proud at herself for her idea.

"Wow, Yamanaka has managed to have a good idea." Temari said in mock surprise.

"She has her moments," Shikamaru said, without even opening his eyes. "Rare as they are."

"Shikamaru," Ino said dangerously.

"We're g-going to the mall, right?" Hinata asked, trying desperately to avoid a fight.

"Yeah!" Ino said, suddenly forgetting her anger and rushing out the door. "We can walk; it's only a few blocks from my house."

**XxX**

"Is that Sasuke?" Tenten asked, tilting her head to the side slightly in confusion. "I thought he took Sakura-chan home, why is he here?"

"Maybe he didn't want to go back to Ino's house, so he came here," Shikamaru said, stating the thing that made the most sense to him.

"Why is he leaving an _expensive_ jewelry store?" Ino asked, noticing where Sasuke was exiting.

"Because…" Naruto started, thinking very hard. "SASUKE-TEME IS GAY!"

"NANI!" Ino and every fan girl in the area screamed.

"Naruto's just being an idiot everyone," Shikamaru announced, clamping a hand over Naruto's mouth, "Continue with your business." Everyone seemed satisfied with the genius's answer and continued what they were previously doing (meaning stalking Sasuke for most of the females that heard him.)

"Do you really think it's wise to shout that out?" Neji asked, rubbing his temples in annoyance, "Especially when it's not true?"

"But why else would Sasuke be in jewelry store?"

"Maybe he has a girlfriend…" Akimoto suggested. "He is very handsome, and has girls hanging all over him all the time."

"But he never showed any interest before…"

"Did something happen between him and forehead-chan?" All eyes turned to Ino.

"That would make some sense," Tenten agreed.

"There's a whole in your theory," Gaara pointed out. "Why would Sasuke care?"

"He likes Sakura-chan," Akimoto answered. "No other fan girl would get away with all the stuff she does. Anyone else he'd… well… shove in a dumpster."

"Sasuke-kun doesn't shove people in dumpsters," Ino said, grinning. "He gets _us _to do it."

"Back go subject on hand," Shikamaru said. "Are we going to confront Sasuke or mind our own business?" The females exchanged glances, before grinning widely, apparently agreeing on something. Shikamaru sighed; "You want to follow him, don't you?" they nodded.

"He'll know your there," Neji pointed out.

"Exactly," Tenten said, smiling wickedly. "Which is why I'm cashing in my promise," Neji looked slightly worried. "Neji-kun, _you _have to follow him. And give a report."

"Nani? I'm not doing that."

"You have to," all the girls said simultaneously. Neji scowled, but he was a man of his word, and took his death march—I mean walk to where Sasuke was, to begin his assigned mission.

"That was cruel," Naruto pointed out.

"Hinata-chan can pick something for you to do Naruto-baka," Ino said, glaring at said moron.

"Oh yeah… I forgot about that part…. Hinata-chan, when are you going to make me do something?"

"Anou… I haven't decided yet N-Naruto-kun," the shy heiress said.

"Oh well… Oi! We should get ramen while we're waiting for Neji!"

"We've got better to do," Gaara said.

"I'm not really hungry," Temari admitted. "Wanna go look at weapons Akimoto-chan?"

Akimoto shrugged, "Hai."

"Iku ze!" and she dragged Akimoto to a nearby store, which did not sell weapons at all.

"Temari-san? Why are we here?"

"I wanted to talk to you," Temari explained, checking to make sure that no one was near them, or that there was any trace of sand.

"About?" Akimoto was beginning to get worried, Temari was acting strange.

"Things regarding my brother," Akimoto gulped.

**XxX**

"And that's all you need to know," Temari finished. Akimoto was a strange yellow color, and had a dazed look on her face. She was close to vomiting. It took an hour and a half for Temari to inform Akimoto of a pretty good summery of Gaara's life story, starting at grade school.

"All she needs to know about what?" Gaara asked suspiciously, his sister wasn't to be trusted.

"Girl things Gaara; there's no need to worry about it," Temari said waving her hand to show how unimportant their conversation was.

"Akimoto looks like she's going to hurl," he observed.

"A normal reaction, I mean, there's a lot of serious stuff she needs to know that she's… you know…"

"No. I don't."

"Well Gaara," Temari said, wrapping her arm around her annoyed brother's shoulders. "The female body--,"

"Don't want to hear it. Bye." He grabbed Akimoto's upper arm and gently got her far, far away from his sister.

**XxX**

"I followed him," Neji said, approaching the table that his friends were currently sitting at.

"Matte," Ino interrupted. "You have to report, the _proper _way."

Neji groaned, "Hyuuga Neji here with information concerning one, Uchiha Sasuke," he said, fighting the urge to kill someone.

"Yay Neji-san!"

"Deep breaths Neji-nii-san," Hinata reminded him.

"Uchiha went home, h-o-m-e. No clues regarding what he was doing with the necklace."

"NECKLACE!" Tenten and Ino yelled and Hinata said in a voice that would have been classified as a normal speaking volume.

"That's what he bought."

"Why would he buy a necklace?" Tenten wondered out loud.

"What kind was it Neji-san?" Ino asked.

"The kind you wear around you neck…"

"Neji-kun, you're hopeless."

**XxX**

**Short, lame, late, and boring. Aren't you guys lucky XD. Please review!  
**


	15. Chapter 14: NANI!

**Ok, so Internet has been out around here, so I haven't been able to post this chapter, which is way it's so late, although technically it isn't late because I never said when I would update.**

**XxX**

**NANI?!**

**XxX**

The first thing Akimoto saw when she reached her new school was a very odd site indeed. Sakura fought with Ino. Sasuke fought with Naruto. Ino fought with Naruto. But Sasuke and Sakura didn't fight… did they? Sure Sasuke would tell Sakura she was annoying at times, but they had never had a two-sided argument. Akimoto wasn't sure if she should approach them, both had a temper, and angering either would be a bad idea.

"Akimoto-chan," someone whispered to her right. She turned to see Tenten, Ino, Hinata, Neji, and Shikamaru standing behind a group of bushes, where they could get a clear view of the ongoing argument. Neji and Shikamaru looked like they had been dragged over to where they were, or at least were not there on their own free will, and Hinata looked slightly guilty at spying on her friends.

"Your just in time, this is getting good," Ino said, signaling that her newest friend should come and listen in with them. "So far we know that Sakura is close to punching Sasuke-kun for doing something to her… we don't know what it is yet."

"Sakura-chan punch Sasuke-kun? The world is coming to an end," Akimoto muttered, getting comfortable and watching the fight commence.

"You had no right!" Sakura yelled.

Sasuke rubbed his temples in annoyance, "That's been your life's dream since we were little kids."

Sakura's hands were balled into fists. "That wasn't how it was supposed to happen! I wasn't supposed to be crying! And you weren't supposed to be insulting me."

"I wasn't insulting you."

Sakura stomped her foot in frustration, "YOU RUINED EVERYTHING!"

"I don't understand you," Sasuke was becoming irritated fast. "You've done nothing but obsess about me all your life, and then when I pay attention to you, you get like this."

"Done nothing but obsess about you? Is that what you think of me?! That I'm just another fan girl that does nothing but drool over the famous Uchiha Sasuke? Why would you kiss me if you think I'm nothing more than a drooling idiot?"

Our little eavesdroppers were stunned. Tenten gasped, Ino let out a small squeal of happiness, Hinata smiled, Akimoto fell over in shock, Neji's eyebrows went up in surprise and Shikamaru… Shikamaru was asleep, but if he was awake, I'm sure he would have done something.

"I _don't _think you're just another fan girl," Sasuke threw a small package at Sakura's feet and stormed away, muttering something that can't be repeated in a K+ fic.

"You can come out now," Sakura muttered, flopping down on the grass. "I know you were listening."

Tenten stood first, walking over to sit beside her pink-haired friend, unsure of what to say. Ino woke up Shikamaru, and together everyone walked over to their hurt companion.

"What did he throw at you?" Neji asked.

"I didn't open it," Sakura confessed picking up the small box, but not opening it.

"It looks like a jewelry box…" Tenten commented, remembering their encounter with Sasuke at the mall. Sakura didn't answer.

"We should get to class," Shikamaru said. "The bell's going to ring soon."

"Shika-kun is right," Ino said, helping her best friend onto her feet. "We wouldn't want that big brain of yours to go to waste.

**XxX**

"Sakura, I'd like you to stay after class," Kakashi said when the bell rang, signaling it was time to go home.

"Hai Kakashi-sensei," she muttered packing up the rest of her things and walking to the front of the room.

"We're going to stand outside the door aren't we?" Akimoto said, without even looking at Ino, who was currently nodding. "Weren't you the one overly mad because the guys were listening in on our conversations?"

"This is totally different," Ino assured her.

"How?"

"I haven't figured that out yet. Now stop talking or he'll hear us."

"What did you want to see me about?" Sakura asked.

"You were behaving strangely in class today," Kakashi answered.

"I wasn't doing anything wrong…" Sakura reminded him, looking confused.

"Exactly," a small twinkle was in his visible eye. "You paid very close attention, you weren't passing notes, chatting with your friends, or… staring at Sasuke."

"I… wanted to do well in class…."

Kakashi sighed. Sakura was on of his favorite students, and although she was pretty good at lying, her skills were not too effective today. "Sakura, what happened?"

"There's no getting out of this conversation, is there?" Kakashi shook his head. Sakura let out a long sigh before telling her sensei everything that had happened, from Ino's house, to the drive home, to what had happened outside.

"I really shouldn't have asked…. I never was really good with high school drama. If I were you, I'd talk to Tsunade-sama, she seems to like you, and would probably be better at this than I am."

"Ok, arigatou Kakashi-sensei!"

Everyone listening at the door took that as their queue to get far away before Sakura found them.

"I'm going to find Garra-kun," Akimoto announced.

"Why? Is he going to make all of Sakura's problems go away?"

"Iie, but I've got to tell him, and everyone, that you called Sakura-chan something without the word forehead in it."

"Just don't get tired," Ino said mockingly.

"What are you talking about?" Akimoto asked, confused beyond reason.

"Oh nothing," Ino said, walking the opposite direction. Akimoto dismissed it as just an Ino thing, and began her search for her… friend.

"Gaara-kun! Wait up!" Now that was a strange thing to hear. Most students had learned to keep away from Gaara, and if they did have to address him, they would do so as 'Gaara-sama' but here was a girl fighting to get through a crowd, asking him to wait for her. But something even stranger was about to happen. Sabaku no Gaara stopped, turned around, and waited for the person hollering at him to catch up, before continuing on his way. A random kid screamed and yelled something about an apocalypse.

"Ino-chan just said something really weird," Akimoto informed her friend.

"What else is new?" Gaara asked.

"It was stranger than usual… something about me getting tired… what does that mean?"

"I… I'm not sure… Ino is weird…."

"Very true… oh, I have to go to the office to grab something, want to come?" Akimoto asked, hoping he would say yes, she still got lost in the school sometimes.

"I've got nothing better to do," Gaara answered, and led the way.

"Tsunade-sama are you sure you want to do this?" Shizune was saying as Akimoto and Gaara entered the office.

"Of course! It's about time we did something like this, too much studying and not enough enjoyment will cause the grades to drop. This dance is just what they need."

"Nani? What dance?" Akimoto asked the principal.

"Kuso! Students weren't supposed to find out about it until tomorrow!"

"It's only two Tsunade-sama, I'm sure they won't tell anyone," Shizune said, trying to calm her down.

"We've having a dance," when Gaara said it, it was more of a statement of a question.

"Hai," Tsunade sighed, seeming disappointed that her big surprise was out. "I was going to announce it tomorrow, but by then it'll already be all over the school."

"I promise I won't tell anyone Tsunade-sama," Akimoto promised. "And Gaara-kun doesn't really talk to anyone, so you don't have anything to worry about!" Tsunade looked skeptical for a moment, but quickly got over her suspicions. Akimoto got what she needed from the office, and she and Gaara went outside, hoping that one of their friends was still there. They were in luck… well maybe not Gaara, because he was stuck watching an argument behind some bushes, and I don't really think anyone would like to do that more than once a day, unless, of course, you were Ino, Tenten, Akimoto and possibly Hinata.

"What have we missed?" Akimoto asked Ino, who scowling at a well rounded boy munching on chips and making noise. Shikamaru got up and led the boy away, smart enough to see that this wasn't going to end well.

"Not much, I honestly didn't realize how often these two run into each other…"

"YOU DIDN'T OPEN IT?!"

"I don't think I've ever heard Sasuke-kun yell before…" Akimoto thought out loud. "He always seemed so calm…."

"Love does funny things to you I guess," Tenten said, a dreamy look on her face for a moment.

"How would you know Tenten-chan?" Ino asked, smirking. "You said you didn't like anyone."

"I was talking about Sasuke and Sakura-chan!" she said quickly. She was embarrassed, which was probably why she didn't see Neji walk up behind her.

"So, what you're saying is. You don't think that Neji-san would make an awesome boyfriend," Ino said, trying to hide her giggle.

Tenten's blush rivaled Hinata's, "I'm sure he'd make a great boyfriend, that doesn't mean I'm going to date him."

"What makes you think that Tenten-chan?" Akimoto asked, smiling slightly.

"Ano… I just mean that… you know…"

"We don't know Tenten-chan," Hinata said, wondering slightly when Neji would make his presence known. "What is so great about Neji-nii-san?"

"Well… he's fun, in his own way, really strong, would probably be pretty protective, cute, an awesome friend, and he's standing right behind me."

"Hai."

"Look! Sasuke's talking again."

"Just open it. I'm sure you could do that."

"What's that supposed to mean? That you don't think I can do anything?!" Sakura seemed more defiant today than she usually was. "Are you saying that something as simple as opening a box would be to challenging for me? Should I find Naruto? I'm sure between the two of you, you'd be able to find a way to protect me and do it for me!"

"If you like Naruto so much," Sasuke said for gritted teeth. "Then why were you _my _fan girl for so long?"

If it had been anyone else, Sakura would have slapped him. But he was Sasuke, and no matter how mad at him she was at the moment, she couldn't bring herself to hit him. "I'm a fan girl. That's all I am."

"If you'd open the box, then you would know my views on that." Sasuke said, beginning calming down.

"Why? What's in the box?"

"You have it in your pocket. If you'd open it, you'd see what was inside it."

"Why should I? I'm through listening to you!"

"Sakura, just—"

"BILLBOARD BROW JUST OPEN THE PRESENT!" Ino screamed. She wasn't the most patient of people.

"How long have you been listening?" It would have been better if Sasuke had yelled those words. Instead he said them in a deadly quiet voice that could be heard despite the volume. To say he was mad would be a major understatement.

"We w-were listening to T-T-Tenten-chan most of the time," Hinata said, though she didn't think that they cared. "She was t-t-talking about Neji-nii-san, so we really haven't b-b-b-b-been listening to you guys."

"Now look what you've done," Ino said, trying to sound more angry than scared. "You've made poor Hinata-chan's stuttering come back. How do you sleep at night?"

Sasuke growled, and Ino tried to make herself as small as possible.

"Think about it this way," Gaara said, not seeming to care what was going on. "If Ino hadn't yelled at Sakura, then they would have heard a lot more, so really this is working out in your favor."

"You're not helping Gaara-kun," Akimoto hissed at him.

"Tenten-chan said that she thought Neji-san was cute!" Ino said, trying a different tactic to get out of this.

"Sasuke-kun…" came Sakura's small voice. Everyone turned to look at their pink-haired friend as she dropped a now empty box to the ground. "How… why… when…?"

"I saw you looking at it in the mall when we I said I'd buy you anything. So yesterday I went back and got it for you. As an apology."

"This is the part where we walk away," Neji informed his friends, knowing full well that prying them away from the scene would be no easy task.

"Demo Neji-san…" Ino protested. She quickly stopped when Sasuke sent them a death glare.

They walked as quickly as they could away from the pair, stopping when they heard a mocking voice, "You really should get better hiding places when you spy on someone." Temari sat on a nearby tree branch, far enough not to be noticed, but close enough to see everything that had happened. "And next time, don't yell at them Yamanaka."

"They weren't getting anywhere," Ino said, crossing her arms against her chest and glaring.

"Know any good distractions?" Akimoto asked as Ino and Temari began their verbal battle.

"Iie."

"Not one."

"I have one," Gaara said, glancing at Tenten.

"I've already been the distraction!" she said.

"We really don't need to keep bringing it up," Neji assured them.

"Bring what up?" Temari asked.

"Nothing!" Tenten and Neji said, making sure not to look at the other.

Gaara, being the loving brother that he is, kindly informed Temari what she missed by sitting in _her _hiding spot.

**XxX**

**I read the latest chapter of the manga, so I had to add Kakashi in here, just so that I could know that there was nothing wrong with him. (I'll try not to say what happened, I don't want to spoil it for anyone.) Kakashi and Gaara… this chapter has Mustard-Gal written all over it!**

**IMPORTANT NOTICE: For anyone who likes Gaara, Akimoto, them together, AMVs, or has nothing to do I made a cute little video of them! The link is posted at the top of my profile! A special thanks to Mustard-Gal for 1) drawing the pictures 2) letting me use them 3) coming up with Akimoto 4) being an awesome friend!**

**Please review! **

**Chibi-Penguin-Chan**


	16. Chapter 15: Dances and Bombs

**I hate to do this to you guys, but I'm going to make you make a decision. There is a dance. You heard that from the last chapter, now I'm going to make the actual dance in 2-3 chapters. The summery of this story does say Ino/Shika/Tem so that means that one of them is going to have to win out. You can choose: Ino/Shika, Shika/Tem, or to leave it unresolved and have it done in the sequel. I promise I will do whatever the reviewers say, even if it makes me want to hang myself.**

**XxX **

**Dances and Bombs**

**XxX**

"Ohayo students," Tsunade's voice rang through the speakers. "I have a special announcement. I have decided that this school should have a dance since all of you have been working so hard. The dance will be next Friday, attendance is mandatory."

"I don't think the word 'mandatory' has ever sounded so terrible," Sasuke said, groaning. They had just arrived at school, and were listening to the morning announcements, that no one really listens to. But when they heard Tsunade speaking they knew something was up. Shizune's voice was always the one that rang though the annoying speakers, it could only mean trouble when Tsunade had something to say.

The class instantly erupted with people talking to their friends, gossiping, and telling the other who they were planning on going with.

"All this talk of youth must wait!" Gai announced, sending goose bumps up and down Akimoto's spine. There was something wrong with that sensei…. "For we have a very youthful lesson we must attend to! Now, turn to page 394."

Akimoto dully pulled out her textbook, wondering how reading about a boring subject could be considered 'youthful'. Was that even a word? When you think about it, how is _anything _full of youth?

**XxX**

**Lunch**

**XxX**

"Sasuke-kun! Will you go to the dance with me?"

"He can't! He's going with me!"

"Iie! You're both delusional, he's going with me!"

"That's a lie, he already agreed to be _my _date."

"He did not!"

"Hold it," Neji suddenly yelled, effectively stopping the mindless arguing of the ever annoying fan girls. "You all go out back, fight to the death, and whoever comes out alive, Sasuke will consider taking to the dance."

The girls looked shocked, was that really true? "You have a decision to make," Akimoto said solemnly. "Are you willing to kill your friends, and possibly be killed just so that you can go to one dance with Sasuke-kun?"

Apparently the answer was yes, for they all ran out back and began fighting each other. "I don't remember agreeing to go with them," Sasuke said once they were gone.

"I said you'd _consider _going, I didn't say you would."

"Besides," Ino said a wicked grin on her face. "This is a good way to get rid of them, and we'll throw the winner in the dumpster anyway. Everyone wins."

"I don't think they do," Tenten said, nodding her head in the direction of the fight commencing behind the school.

"They aren't human, so they don't count," Sasuke informed her.

"Well, enough about Sasuke's rodent problem," Temari said, clapping her hands together. "We need to talk about something important."

"Wait, when were we talking about rodents?" Naruto asked. Hinata explained to him what they were talking about, and Temari continued with her speech.

"I just got my pictures back." All hell was about to break lose. "I had a select few blown up," Gaara was twitching in his seat. "They turned out really well. I had them made into posters," this girl was pushing her luck. "The others I gave to the year book committee." Those poor kids never stood a chance.

"What were the pictures of?" Akimoto asked.

"You," Temari said simply, taking a bite of an apple she had brought for her lunch.

"Why did you take pictures of me?"

"It wasn't just her," Tenten assured her. "Ino and I took some."

"Nande?"

"Because you were taking a nap," Naruto said, smiling.

"What's the big deal?"

"You fell asleep on my lap," Gaara muttered so quietly Akimoto couldn't understand him.

"Gomen, didn't catch that."

"You feel asleep on his lap at Ino's house!" Naruto said laughing. Unfortunately, Naruto doesn't _say _anything; his voice is naturally loud, so when he said that he _yelled _it.

"Naruto no baka!" Ino hissed at him.

"Nani?"

"You weren't supposed to yell that!"

"Akimoto-chan?" Tenten asked, interrupting the argument between Naruto and Ino. "Akimoto-chan? Are you listening to me, Akimoto-chan?"

"I think she's in shock," Neji said, looking amused at what was happening.

"She knew she fell asleep though, she woke up and asked what she missed," Temari pointed out, while watching the last few fan girls continue to fight. They had managed to knock a large portion of the people out, though it didn't look like any were dead… yet.

"I don't think she realized she was asleep on Gaara-- KAMI-SAMA! GAARA'S BLUSHING!"

A large hush fell over the crowd **(A/N: great, now I sound like my camp councilor…) **as all eyes turned to they're table. First he waited for a girl, who was referring to him as 'Gaara-kun', and now he was blushing? Something was not right with this.

"Naruto-kun, I don't think you should yell anymore. Everyone's staring at us," Hinata whispered to him.

"Say something to get they're attention off of me before I go insane," Gaara said through gritted teeth.

"You're not already insane?" Neji asked.

"TENTEN-CHAN'S IN LOVE WITH NEJI-SAN?!" Ino said, making sure to sound as surprised as she could.

"I'm. Going. To. Hurt. You." Tenten said, not sounding amused.

"What else was I supposed to say?"

"What happened to Sakura-chan?" Hinata asked.

"Thanks a lot Hinata," Temari complained. "I wanted to see Tenten beat up Ino…."

"Hinata-chan's right though," Naruto said looking around. "Where is Sakura-chan?"

"She's probably avoiding the Uchiha," Neji said simply.

"Hai," Gaara agreed.

Tenten kicked Neji under the table while everyone else either glared at him, or watched Sasuke, wondering what he would do.

"Well, we're all going to see her today," Ino stated. "Because everyone's going to meet at the park at exactly four o'clock."

"Why?" Temari asked.

"Because we're going to throw bombs at each other," Ino said simply. "So don't wear nice clothes."

"That answer created _more _questions," Akimoto said, while everyone else looked at Ino like she was crazy… _er._

"Just be there ok, I'll explain later."

"What happens when we don't show up?" Naruto asked.

"You're going to miss the opportunity to throw bombs at Sasuke-kun?" Ino asked him.

"I think I'll make it…"

"We get to throw them at you right," Temari asked.

"I get her first," Tenten answered.

"I've got nothing better to do."

"Hn."

"Sasuke-teme, you're going down!"

"I'll come."

"If my sister dies, it's not a big deal, right?"

XxX 

"Good, everyone made it," Ino said excitedly, as she walked up to her friends, a box tucked safely under her arm.

"There's still the question of why," Temari said, looking at the box suspiciously.

Ino grinned and set the package on the ground before pulling out a brown thing covered in white powder. "Everyone did wear clothes they could get dirty, right?" Ino asked, as she handed the weird object to whoever was standing closest to her.

"What is this thing?"

"That my dear friends, is a flour bomb. I will hand one to everyone, and then count to three. In that time, everyone will spread out as much as they can before I shout go."

"Then what?" Tenten asked, sounding worried.

"We chuck these at each other. We throw them at whoever we want until there's no more flour left."

"Two questions," Akimoto said as she was handed her weapon. "One, why are we throwing these at each other, and two, are these made of nylons?"

"Because it's fun and a great way to burn some energy, and yes they are."

"Ne," Naruto said, grinning as he was handed his bomb. "We can throw these at _anyone, _right?"

"Hai, and anyone can throw them at you. There's no rules, you get your bomb, you throw it at anyone, if you hit great, if not oh well. You can have more than one, but if you do that means someone doesn't have a weapon. Just because you don't have anything to throw, doesn't mean your safe. Got it?"

"Hai!"

"Good, now let's start. Ichi, ni, san, go! **(A/N: if you say that fast enough if almost sounds like you're saying Itachi-nii-san)**

Everyone ran away from the group and then turned and began chucking they're flour bombs at each other. Ino was right to warn them about what clothes to wear, for they were all covered in flour in no time. The people who wore black or other dark colors were somewhat lucky, the flour showed up on them, so it was easy to see how many times they were hit. Not everyone was so lucky, a few people wore white and other lightly colored clothes, making it appear they were cleaner then they were. It wasn't good to look clean, you got attacked more.

The battle went on. Chaos everywhere… well the park area…. Rival upon rival, friend against friend, and relative battling relative. It was a funny sight, seeing the school's most stoic boys running around throwing things at their friends. Naruto and Sasuke had immediately started attaching each other, the same went for Temari and Ino. Sakura and Tenten started throwing their bombs at anyone and everyone, simply having a good time. Shikamaru had tossed his behind his back and went behind a tree to take a nap, the bomb he tossed hit Neji in the head. He thought it was Gaara. The two had been battling it out ever since. Akimoto and Hinata were using their weapons as swords and were now locked in an epic battle to the death.

This went on for a few hours. It was amazing how much endurance these kids had; not many people can spend hours running up and down hills, tripping over weeds, and maintaining near perfect aim.

"Come on Hinata-chan! You can beat her!" Tenten yelled in encouragement to her shy friend.

"She can't be that hard to beat!" Sakura yelled. "She's got hardly no coordination!"

"Hey!" Akimoto yelled. "My coordination isn't that bad! Besides, I practice with swords, I've got some talent here!"

"But Hinata-sama isn't weak, and she has Hyuuga training. That makes her better."

"Is everyone out to get me here?"

"Hai," everyone said, pausing they're own battle on pause to cheer on their friends.

"I think they like you more than me Hinata-chan," Akimoto said, laughing.

"They're just joking around," Hinata assured her. "They like you just as much, besides," she dropped her voice, not that it was necessary. "Gaara-san is cheering for you."

"You think so? Well, Naruto-kun is on your side."

Hinata blushed a little, losing her concentration. Akimoto managed to hit her flour bomb and twisted it around, effectively tearing it out of Hinata's hand and making it land a few feet away.

"Does that mean Akimoto wins?" Gaara asked.

"I don't think there were rules…" Sakura answered.

"I admit defeat," Hinata said, recovering her weapon.

"Well, now that that's settled, it's time to properly dispose of these," Ino said grinning. "Boys on one side, girls stand across from them. Stand with you're backs facing each other, and when I say go, throw your bomb at anyone on the opposite team. The group with the most hits wins."

Everyone followed their instructions and they did this over and over again until there was no flour left.

"That was a waste of time," Neji commented as the flour covered teens walked to the closest house, which happened to be the Uchiha compound. "I don't think anyone's home…" Sasuke said as they neared the block that his house was located on. "My parents are at work and Itachi is… never home." "That's creepy," Akimoto commented. "And that's saying something," Ino said. "Because we all know who she likes," Sakura finished. "The king of creepy." 

"Which is what people refer to him when he's not around."

"Otherwise he scares them half to death."

"A word of warning," Tenten interrupted. "Gaara's standing right behind you."

"I don't like Gaara-kun!"

"Recap," Ino said, everyone else tuned them out as they entered Sasuke's mansion and sat down, waiting for them to finish before deciding what they should do to entertain themselves.

"Gaara-san, how many fan girls do you have?"

"None that I know of."

"How many people refer to you as 'Gaara-kun'?" Ino interrogated.

"One."

"And who is this person?" Sakura asked, pacing in front of him. Gaara nodded his head in Akimoto's direction.

"Let the record show that he acknowledged Akimoto-chan," Ino said.

"Objection," Temari said.

"Nani?" Ino asked, sounding annoyed.

"If this is a court, why isn't there a judge?"

"Neji-san is the judge," Sakura answered.

"Why him?" Temari asked.

"Because Naruto is Naruto, Hinata-chan is record keeper, you seem to be against us, Akimoto-chan is on trial, Gaara-san is witness, and everyone else is on jury," Ino said, as if this was obvious.

"That makes no sense," Temari said, sweat dropping.

"Order!" Neji called, gently banging a cup on a nearby table. "Ino, Sakura, continue."

"Arigato Neji-san," Ino said, bowing her head slightly. "Now, Gaara-san, is it true that on the date… that I don't remember… that we were at my house, Akimoto-chan did, in fact, fall asleep."

"She did."

"Where?"

"On the couch."

"More specifically…"

"On the couch, in your living room."

"Kami-sama," Sakura sighed in annoyance. "Where was her head resting?" Gaara, being the ever-talkative person that he is, didn't answer.

"She feel asleep on your lap," Ino continued. "Did you kill her?"

Gaara just looked at her. "Let the record show that he gave Ino-pig-chan a look that very clearly said 'I eat babies for breakfast," Sakura said. "Wait, no, I mean 'of course not, she's still alive.'"

"Objection your honor," Akimoto said. "This is both weird and irrelevant, you've proven nothing except that Sakura-chan has finally lost it."

"She's right," Neji agreed. "Ino, Sakura, Akimoto is on trial, not Gaara."

"Hai Neji-sama," they chorused.

"I call Akimoto-chan to the stand!"

"What stand?"

"Does it matter? That just means we're questioning her now."

"Akimoto-chan…" Ino said. "Do you mind if I call you Akimoto-chan?"

"That's what you've always called me."

"Right… now, how did you meet us?"

"I tripped over Shikamaru-kun, you yelled at him, and the lead me to the weirdest group of people I would ever meet."

"Good answer," Sakura said. "Now, after school that day, what did you do?"

"I went to the mall with you."

"Why?"

"I wonder that myself."

"Forehead-chan, your terrible at this, take a break," Ino said. "Now, Akimoto-chan, who did you hang out with most at that mall trip?"

"Well, everyone except Gaara-kun ditched me, so him… but we met up with Sakura-chan and Sasuke-kun not long after that, and I spent most of my time looking at stuff with Sakura-chan… so Gaara-kun, by about five minutes."

"What did we talk about at Tenten-chan's party?"

"A lot of things. I remember a lot of talk about you after you forgot to block your number when you tried to call Shikamaru-kun and prank him."

"You just have an answer for everything, don't you."

"Hai."

"Fine, I call Shika-kun to the stand."

"I thought I was on the jury."

"Not anymore. Now, is it true that you have an IQ of over 200?"

"Un."

"Is it true that you are a genius."

"Yep."

"Is it true that you like me more than the sand freak with the pointy hair?"

"OBJECTION!"

And this is how the rest of the day went. The trial didn't last long, because there was too much arguing, and they weren't sure what they were trying to prove. Ino and Temari got into a wrestling match… I'm not telling you won, because I don't know. I wasn't there. Everyone stayed at Sasuke's house for the rest of the day, until his brother got home, and everyone (including Sasuke) left. They went to dinner at a pizza joint, Sakura refused to go home when her parent's called her, Neji near broke Tenten's phone when a certain friend of Akimoto's called, and Lee showed up and begged Sakura to go to the dance with him. His ego took a hard blow that day….

**XxX **

**Yeah… I can explain! My friend (who plays Ino in this) threw a Halloween party… we had flour bomb wars…. My friend (Mustard-Gal, who created and was Akimoto) and I (Hinata) really did have 'an epic battle to the death' I lost. So, I made up dialog, added hints of fluff, and forced myself to write instead of playing games like I want to. Don't forget to review!**

**Chibi-Penguin-Chan**


	17. Chapter 16: Predance Excitment

**Ok, really weird thing, I swear every other vote was for the other pairing. I'd get a Shika/Ino the next one would be Shika/Tem and it went on like that. I have an announcement to make, so pay attention or penguins will punish you. LadyMononoke756 requested that if Shika/Tem didn't win out, then I should make it Ita/Tem. I have never considered this pairing, but I have nothing against writing it because 1) I like Itachi (I mean, who doesn't love the bad guy?) 2) LadyMonoke756 requested it 3) I don't like it when someone doesn't get a pairing, even if I don't like the person who is left alone. Seriously, if you are too terribly offended by Ita/Tem in anyway, than let me know and I won't put it up. Unfortunately for some, and fortunately for others, the reason I put this here was because Ino/Shika did win out. So, enjoy the chapter while I cower in fear of angry Shika/Tem supporters. **

**XxX**

**Chapter 16: Pre-dance Excitment  
**

**XxX**

"Neji-kun!" was all he heard before he was unceremoniously thrown against a wall, a hand clamped over his mouth. "Why are you being so careless? You could have been… actually I'm not sure what they would have done…" he felt the person who belonged to the voice shudder. He couldn't tell who it was, their head wasn't in view. They were peaking around the corner he was about to walk down, seeming worried. He could tell that it was a girl, and she must have known him if she called him Neji-kun. Her voice sounded familiar…

"Tenten?" he attempted to say into her hand.

"Oh, I guess I could uncover your mouth now…" she removed her hand. "You really should be more careful Neji-kun, you never know who's going to be lurking around a corner to—"

"Attack you and throw you against a wall."

"Well… yeah…" she said looking embarrassed. "But believe me, this is _way _better than what those fan girls had in mind for you…"

"Fan girls? Why would the fan girls be after me?"

Tenten blushed, but hid her face well. "Same reasons Sasuke has fan girls."

"Wait… _I _have fan girls?"

"Hai."

"Why haven't I known about this until now?" Neji asked suspiciously.

"Well… you see… I knew that you couldn't stand Sasuke's fan girls, so I made sure that yours never bugged you. So far I've managed to keep them away from you, but since the dance is coming up, then there are more of them than usual."

"Are they going to start coming after me?" Tenten nodded her head solemnly to answer his question. "Then… there is only one thing to do."

"Nani?"

"Ok, you're going to have to listen very closely…"

**XxX**

"Ohayo Sasuke-kun," Sakura said weakly.

"Hn."

"I'm sorry I yelled at you."

"Hn."

"Thank you for the necklace."

"Hn."

"If you stop saying that I'll mean what I said about being sorry."

Sasuke paused in his tracks and looked at her, "You lied to me?"

"Iie, at the time I meant it, but after the third hn, I no longer thought that you deserved it."

"I see."

They continued walking in silence, where you ask? I don't know. All I know is that they kept walking to their unknown destination. Maybe they were going to school, but then where were Neji and Tenten? If they were at school, why would Sasuke and Sakura be walking there? Better yet, why was Sasuke walking at all? He had a car, a very nice car. He could be driving, but he wasn't. Instead he was walking down the street with his pink haired friend. Their walk was silent, SILENCE. Do you feel the MOOD? **(A/N: this line courtesy of Mustard-Gal, I borrowed her insaneness for a bit.) **Seriously though, I'm getting sidetracked.

"Kitto sore wa owarenai," Sasuke muttered.

Sakura looked at him and titled her head to the side, "What do you mean?"

"This conversation. It's not over."

"I didn't think this was considered a conversation."

"We're not going to talk much more about it, I can tell. So I'm telling you now, we're not through with this."

"Why not? It would be so much easier! Why don't we just give up on everything?"

"Because, I like you now, and I don't want you to change your mind."

"Now?" Sakura didn't look as pleased as Sasuke expected her to.

"Now... as in… more than usual…" Sasuke was lucky that Sakura wasn't in the mood to punch anyone at the moment. She accepted his explanation and they continued in a comfortable silence. "So…" Sasuke said after awhile. "Where are we going?"

"No idea," Sakura answered.

Sasuke took her hand in his and they walked down the sidewalk in an extremely cheesy and OOC way, simply because the authoress of this story is having extreme writers block and wants to get this done because she currently is in a Gaara/Akimoto mood.

**XxX**

"So… Hinata-chan," Akimoto said casually as she took a bite of her food. "Who do you want to go to the dance with?"

Hinata looked horrified for a moment. "I haven't d-decided yet."

"Ne, Hinata your stuttering is coming back," Naruto commented between slurps of ramen. "And your face is red, are you getting a cold?"

"She doesn't look sick," Gaara said, face void of any emotion.

"Ok, so who do you want to go with?" Naruto asked, accepting Gaara's answer.

"Excuse me," a handsome boy around their age said, drawing attention away from a now beat red Hinata. "I noticed that you were new at school," he said to Akimoto.

"She's been here since the beginning of the year, and that was months ago," Gaara informed him.

He was ignored as the boy continued, "I thought that you might want to meet other people in the school, besides your lovely group of friends. I assume you haven't met many other people since you arrived, don't you think it would be a nice to change to hang out with other people in the school besides just them."

"You're weird." Naruto commented.

This kid was good at blocking people out, "Why don't you come to the upcoming dance with me, and I could introduce you to some other potential friends."

"What a kind offer," Akimoto said sweetly. "It seems strange though… you decide you want to get to know me _after_ there's a dance at the school… Where were you when I first came to the school?"

"I must apologize, you are absolutely right, I haven't approached you before this, but there never seemed to be a reason to. This dance gave me an opportunity to introduce myself to you. I only hope that you will consider my offer."

"You haven't t-told her your name yet, so you haven't r-really introduced yourself," Hinata pointed out.

"Nakasone Sotan, at your service."

"Gaara-kun, you look angry." Akimoto said, getting bored with Sotan's drawn out speeches about nothing really. He just said 'I want to go to the dance with you and have never approached you before because I didn't feel like it' in a very fancy and somewhat annoying way.

"Gaara's always angry," Naruto said. "He's as bad as Sasuke-teme and Neji."

"I don't think he likes you Sotan-san," Akimoto declared.

"There's no need to be formal with me, you can drop the san."

"I don't think it matters," Naruto said, though he seemed to be thinking out loud. "We shouldn't be talking to you too much… we might get somewhat attached and then we could possibly be sad when Gaara rips you to shreds."

"That would be pretty sad," Hinata agreed.

"Well, sayonara Sotan," Akimoto said in a dismissive manner.

"You didn't give me an answer about my invitation."

"She told you to leave, that means no," Gaara said, his voice deadlier than usual.

"I do believe that the beautiful lady can speak for herself," no sooner had said this than Akimoto let out a loud belch.

"I'm sorry," Akimoto said. "What were you saying?"

"Ja ne Akimoto-san," Sotan said with a small bow and then walked away.

"Where'd you learn to do that Akimoto?" Naruto asked, laughing.

"I didn't… but if he was going to call me a lady, I figured proving him wrong would get him to go away…"

"That's genius," Naruto said in awe.

"Though unorthodox," Gaara pointed out.

"I didn't want you to get _too _mad Gaara-kun. I mean… it wasn't like I'd actually agree to go with that flirt."

"I wasn't angry about that."

"Oh, well if you're ok with that, maybe I should go with him…"

"Iie."

"Why not? You said you didn't care."

Gaara just glared.

"Hey, Hinata-chan," Naruto suddenly said.

"Nani Naruto-kun?"

"We should go together! I mean… I don't have anyone I really want to go with… and it sounds like fun! That is, if you want to."

Hinata fainted. "I think that means yes Naruto-kun," Akimoto translated, grabbing what was left of her water and dropping a small amount on her face.

**XxX**

"Oi Shika-kun," Ino greeted as she walked up the hill where Shikamaru was currently watching clouds float by. "Can I join you?"

"Hai," he answered.

After a few minutes of watching clouds in peace Ino spoke up, "who are you going to the dance with?" she asked causally.

"I don't know."

"You're a genius, don't you know everything?"

"You'd think…"

"I know someone you should go with!" Ino said excitedly. "She has blonde hair…" she paused so that he could guess, he didn't. "And she's really pretty… she keeps her hair up in a pony tail…"

"Temari?" he asked, half jokingly.

"NANI?!"

"She fits your description."

"No she doesn't. I said pretty."

"Is this conversation going somewhere?"

"It would if you would leave that sand bit—"

"Ino," Shikamaru prompted her.

"Oh yeah… wanna go to the dance with me? Attendance is mandatory, so we should go together!"

"This is going to be troublesome… but sure." Ino let out a squeal of joy.

**XxX**

**_IMPORTANT: _Ok, so the splendidly talented Mustard-Gal has drawn another picture of this story. This one would be more like a cover to the story, instead of her last picture which was an illustration of the beach scene. Anyway, the link is posted at the top of my profile along with her other awesome picture and the Gaara/Aki AMV that I made. **

**Kitto sore wa owarenai means this defiantly isn't over. It's a line from the song 'parade' which is one of the Naruto endings. I love the line, so I had to add it.**

**Oh yeah, I don't have anything against Temari, Ino does. **


	18. Chapter 17: Apology Filler

**Grounded from the computer, losing half my work, HUGE family problems, spending two weeks worth of holidays with no computer, and I'm not getting my saved work back anytime soon. So since I've taken forever to update, I decided to throw in a filler with lots of Gaara/Aki fluff, because that's the only thing my friend's cousin and I agree on. **

**XxX **

**Chibi Aki has just signed in **

**Mind Caster: **And here she is!

**Pink Petals: **Just in time!

**Chibi Aki: **Do I even want to know?

**Weapons Mistress: **No. You don't.

**Sandman: **You really don't.

**Dark Avenger: **I disagree Gaara I think she'd want to know.

**Deadly Curse: **I think the Uchiha wants to get into a fight.

**Chibi Aki: **Now I'm curious, what's going on?

**Weapons Mistress: **It involves Ino and Sakura, do you still want to know?

**Pink Petals: **It's not just us!

**Mind Caster: **It's also about Akimoto-chan and Gaara.

**Chibi Aki: **Now I'm afraid, but still want to know.

**Sandman: **anything they say is a lie.

**Weapons Mistress: **No, it's true. But Akimoto-chan probably doesn't want to hear about it.

**Sandman: **I hate you all.

**Pink Petals: **Our beloved Gaara—by our, I mean Aki's—was just writing the most beautiful poem ever!

**Mind Caster: **It really was amazing.

**Pink Petals: **We shall tell you about it!

**Sandman: **I hate you all.

**Dark Avenger: **That's not true.

**Deadly Curse: **We all know that you don't hate Akimoto.

**Pink Petals: **Don't do that.

**Mind Caster: **Forehead and I are the only ones that do that

**Pink Petals: **but on to more important matters

**Mind Caster: **Our poor Gaara was so upset that he didn't get to ask Aki to the dance properly that he decided to write a love poem for her!

**Deadly Curse: **I don't think any of this is true…

**Pink Petals: **Akimoto-chan, Akimoto-chan

**Mind Caster: **the only thing I can think that rhymes with chan is man.

**Chibi Aki: **This is going to end badly…

**Pink Petals: **Aki-chan, I love you so

**Mind Caster: **Sasuke-kun thinks I've sunk so low

**Sandman: **I've never added kun to Sasuke's name.

**Pink Petals: **Ino-pig cannot rhyme

**Mind Caster: **Forehead girl, go suck a lime

**Deadly Curse: **You guys are insulting each other in poem form.

**Pink Petals: **Aki-chan you fill my life with joy

**Mind Caster: **you're like my favorite childhood toy

**Weapons Mistress: **that one wasn't as bad as the others…

**Pink Petals: **Your hair is blonde, and mine is red

**Mind Caster: **and is all messed up, like I just got out of bed

**Dark Avenger: **You guys have too much free time.

**Pink Petals: **I'm running out of things to say

**Mind Caster: **So good bye, until another day.

**Chibi Aki: **That was the scariest thing you guys have ever said. EVER.

**Sandman: **I should kill you.

**Weapons Mistress: **Where do you come up with this stuff?

**Deadly Curse: **Tenten, don't ask such things. We don't want to know.

**Pink Petals: **I thought it was a beautiful poem!

**Mind Caster: **Gaara worked hard on that, and you guys are making fun of him. No wonder he's so mad.

**Sandman: **I. didn't. write. that.

**Weapons Mistress: **it would have been sweet though, if it weren't so creepy and written by you two.

**Pink Petals: **WE DIDN'T WRITE IT! GAARA DID!

**Dark Avenger: **Wow, look at the time. I think it's time we changed the subject.

**Deadly Curse: **isn't this about the time that someone else logs in…

**Weapons Mistress: **Usually… but I don't think anyone else will…

**Hokage of Ramen has just signed in **

**Mind Caster: **I'm scared.

**Chibi Aki: **I was scared after your little poem.

**Hokage of Ramen: **WHAT POEM?

**Pink Petals: **it was a lovely love poem that Gaara wrote for Akimoto-chan. The pig and I took it upon ourselves to tell everybody of its wonderful…ness

**Hokage of Ramen: **GAARA WRITES POETRY?

**Sandman: **did your keyboard break again?

**Hokage of Ramen: **NO, BUT IT SEEMS LIKE I ALWAYS END UP IN CAPS SOONER OR LATER, SEEMS EASIER JUST TO TYPE LIKE THIS ALL THE TIME. AND I DON'T HAVE TO WORRY ABOUT CAPTIAZLIZING THINGS.

**Dark Avenger: **Capitalizing, dobe.

**Weapons Mistress: **Naruto, if you stopped eating ramen at your computer, then you wouldn't have to worry about your keyboard getting broken.

**Hokage of Ramen: **BUT I GET HUNGRY!

**Chibi Aki: **Why don't you eat before you log on to the computer, Naruto-kun.

**Sandman: **Or just stop spilling your noodles.

**Pink Petals: **that would be easier…

**Mind Caster: **But I don't think Naruto is capable of doing so…

**Wind Sorceress has just signed in **

**Wind Sorceress: **INO I'M GOING TO KILL YOU!!

**Hokage of Ramen: **TEMARI USES CAPS AND NO ONE THINKS IT'S A BIG DEAL.

**Weapons Mistress: **Temari just gave out a death threat. We think it's a big deal.

**Sandman: **I told Ino and Sakura that I'd kill them and no one thought twice about it.

**Dark Avenger: **you say your going to kill everyone, all the time.

**Chibi Aki: **Sasuke-kun, you do too…

**Pink Petals: **on to more important things, Temari-chan was going to kill Ino, please elaborate.

**Mind Caster: **And we recited a poem together…

**Wind Sorceress: **YOU STOLE SHIKAMARU FROM ME!

**Mind Caster: **I can't really steal what hasn't been claimed.

**Dark Avenger: **I've got 200 yen on Temari winning.

**Hokage of Ramen: **YOU'RE ON

**Pink Petals: **my money's on Ino-pig

**Weapons Mistress: **I think Temari's got this one…

**Mind Caster: **If your all done, we were in the middle of something.

**Pink Petals: **gomen

**Dark Avenger:** continue.

**Wind Sorceress: **Forget it. If anyone would choose the pig over me, then he's not much of a genius.

**Wind Sorceress has signed out **

**Sandman: **so who won?

**Deadly Curse: **You can't really beat an insult like that, so I'd say Temari.

**Hokage of Ramen: **SHE MIGHT BE IN HER ROOM CRYING THOUGH, THEN INO WOULD HAVE WON

**Sandman: **No, she's just throwing stuff against the wall. Besides, Ino didn't say anything really.

**Mind Caster: **I'm glad you're all amused about this.

**Pink Petals: **I know what will cheer you up!

**Mind Caster: **don't even think about it.

**Pink Petals: **Ahh, but it's fun and pretty much legal!

**Mind Caster: **no.

**Pink Petals: **he hasn't caught us yet!

**Mind Caster: **I don't care. I'm not doing that again.

**Pink Petals: **But it's so much fun, I mean… who'd have thought…

**Chibi Aki: **does anyone else know what's going on here?

**Sandman: **Does anyone ever know what they're talking about?

**Weapons Mistress: **Pretty much legal?

**Dark Avenger: **Do you really want to know?

**Weapons Mistress: **probably not.

**Silent Whisperer has just signed in **

**Hokage of Ramen: **HI HINATA-CHAN!

**Dark Avenger: **His keyboard's fine, he's just a baka

**Deadly Curse: **at least he doesn't start making up poems that someone else supposedly wrote

**Weapons Mistress: **Neji-kun, we're changing the subject

**Sandman: **Just want to remind you all, I HATE YOU!

**Chibi Aki: **I'm hurt Gaara-kun

**Pink Petals: **Neji-san, what kind of conditioner do you use?

**Mind Caster: **we've been wondering for awhile now.

**Pink Petals: **Your hair is always so shiny and soft looking, you've gotta use something in it.

**Chibi Aki: **Why were you wondering about this?

**Sandman: **they've wondered stranger things.

**Mind Caster: **That's not important right now

**Pink Petals: **the suspense is killing us

**Silent Whisperer: **Neji-nii-san is making death threats I can hear him from down the hall

**Silent Whisperer: **And these walls are soundproof

**Pink Petals: **Have you ever discussed anger management with him?

**Mind Caster: **Or considered firing whoever claimed they made your walls soundproof?

**Chibi Aki: **What would you call those?

**Chibi Aki: **Sound proofer guy?

**Weapons Mistress: **Sounds good to me

**Dark Avenger: **I think you're all insane.

**Chibi Aki: **YOU hang out with us, so that makes you just as insane.

**Pink Petals: **We aren't insane

**Mind Caster: **We just temporarily lost our saneness.

**Pink Petals: **but we're looking for it

**Mind Caster: **Though we haven't found anything yet

**Pink Petals: **It can't have gone far though

**Mind Caster: **it should be located by tomorrow

**Pink Petals: **Next week tops.

**Weapons Mistress: **Do you guys preplan your conversations?

**Chibi Aki: **I think they'd have to…

**Silent Whisperer: **There aren't many more explanations, there's no way they can just finish each other's sentences like that.

**Pink Petals: **We're just talented!

**Mind Caster: **Hai!

**Deadly Curse: **by talented, you mean taking the same drugs, right?

**Dark Avenger: **They don't need drugs…

**Sandman: **I don't know… can people really be THAT insanely creepy?

**Pink Petals: **YOU'RE ONE TO TALK!

**Mind Caster: **You're the king of creepy!

**Chibi Aki: **he's not creepy

**Chibi Aki: **he's just mean.

**Sandman: **I didn't mean I hated you.

**Silent Whisperer: **I think that's sweet

**Pink Petals: **isn't it!

**Mind Caster: **why can't all guys be as loving as Gaara?

**Hokage of Ramen: **AM I READING THIS RIGHT?

**Deadly Curse: **I don't know…

**Dark Avenger: **I think my eyes are playing tricks on me too

**Weapons Mistress: **it was cute, even if it was Gaara saying it… though I don't think all guys should be as loving as him… the planet would drop in population

**Weapons Mistress: **by a lot

**Chibi Aki: **Are you guys done yet?

**Mind Caster: **Now you know how I felt when they were taking bets on me.

**Sandman: **I'm going to go and tell Temari to fix the hole in the wall

**Chibi Aki: **I've gotta go too

**Pink Petals: **I think they're going to make out

**Mind Caster: **well duh

**Silent Whisperer: **don't get sand in your eye

**Sandman has signed out **

**Chibi Aki has signed out**

**XxX **

**Someone left me an anonymous review that needs answering, and since I can't hit the reply button, everyone gets to see my response to it. I will _NOT _add in a Marry Sue. I work very hard to make sure that Aki-chan is realistic, and isn't a perfect little girl that everyone falls in love with. So don't even bother asking me to add in a girl who 'Becomes Popular on the first day of school, She is short and very beautifully, all the boys in the groupthink shes pretty but dont show it except for Neji he shows that he really likes her alot.' THAT WOULD NEVER FREAKING HAPPEN! I'm planning on ending this story soon, I've got about three more that I've got planned, plus I have about three that still need to be finished.**


	19. Chapter 18: Fangirls Galore

**This chapter explains the last one a little better. I wrote this before the last one, and forgot that I didn't get the opportunity to post it because I was kicked off the computer this is saved on. I'm rereading the Rescue Gaara arc, and I would just like to say GAARA-KUN IS SO FREAKING AWESOME!! That is all. **

**XxX  
Fan Girls Galore  
XxX**

"Why would you guys say something like that?"

"Gaara, Gaara, Gaara," Sakura said, sighing. "Have you forgotten already?"

"I feel a flashback coming on!" Ino said.

"How do you feel a flashback?" Neji asked, but he was ignored.

"FLASHBACK TIME!" The twins yelled in unison.

**XxX  
Flashback  
XxX**

"Excuse m-m-me," a girl around their age stuttered, walking up to the table, looking nervous.

"Sasuke-teme is going to the dance with Sakura-chan," Naruto said automatically, earning a pair of glares for his incorrect comment.

"Oh… that's nice… b-b-but I'm not here for Sasuke-san…"

The look of surprise on the group's respective faces was clear… except for Gaara and Neji who don't really have expressions, so they just kind of looked at her. Sasuke looked relieved.

"Oh, ok," Akimoto said, being the first to recover from the shock. "What do you need then?"

"I was w-w-w-wondering if… anou…" the girl looked down at her feet, apparently losing her nerve.

"She sounds like you Hinata-chan," Naruto commented.

"Hinata-chan only stutters when you're around," Ino pointed out.

"What do you want?" Neji asked, getting slightly irritated.

"I-I-I w-w-was g-g-going to ask—"

"Itoe! Itoe I told you that you shouldn't even bother asking!" a girl with short dark hair and grey eyes walked over to the group and grabbed the girl's arm. "When are you going to learn?"

"What is going on here?" Temari asked, seemingly interested.

"Miwa-chan is just being… well, in all ways Miwa-chan."

"As lovely as this is," Sasuke said, looking extremely annoyed. "What do you guys want?"

"Itoe wants to eat lunch with you guys, because for some odd reason, she seems to think you're human gods."

"But we're not human," Akimoto said solemnly. "There is no way any _human _can be as insane as we are. We have constantly bickering twins that look nothing like each other, Gaara-kun, Neji-san, and Sasuke-kun don't have enough emotion to be considered human, Shikamaru-kun is too lazy, Naruto-kun is too overly loud, Hinata-chan can't speak too well, Tenten-chan is obsessed with pointy objects, and Temari-san is just plain weird."

Everyone at the table nodded in agreement, silently vowing to hurt their friend as soon as these girls left.

"But you guys are the coolest!" Itoe exclaimed, suddenly forgetting her nervousness. She then went into an extremely long explanation as to why she worshiped the ground they walked on. However, none of this was heard, because our group just tuned her out as they would any other fan girl, that is until they heard the words 'and finally'. That seemed to be reason enough to pay a bit of attention to why they were so great. "And finally, this new girl has managed to make Gaara-san fall in love with her."

"NANI?!"

"She has not," Gaara said, his left eye twitching. Not his right though, his right eye had never, and will never twitch. It's an interesting story as to why, but if I told you that story I'd also have to explain why Sakura's hair color is pink, otherwise the story of Gaara's eye would make no sense. So we'll skip that for now.

"I didn't know Gaara was in love with Akimoto," Naruto said. "Didn't they try to disprove that in Ino and Sakura-chan's court?"

"Court?" the creepy girl asked, unconsciously taking a step back.

"Yeah," Ino said casually.

"We had nothing better to do," Sakura continued for her friend.

"No one really won though," Temari said, "Because there was this obnoxious girl that completely changed the subject to something incredibly stupid and irrelevant."

"It wasn't irrelevant!" Ino insisted, "We were discussing Gaara and Akimoto-chan's love life—"

"Or lack there of," Gaara hissed.

"So I simply changed the person in question."

An argument, as usual, broke out.

"You worship these people," Miwa said to her friend, taking a step back in caution.

"You know what," Akimoto finally said; a vain popping in her forehead. "Fine! Gaara-kun, do you want to go to the dance with me?"

"Will it make them shut up?"

"Probably not."

"Whatever, I'll go."

Numerous squeals were heard from the table. People around them still haven't recovered from hearing loss.

"Let's do a count," Tenten said. "Gaara and Akimoto-chan, Ino-chan and Shikamaru, Sasuke and Sakura-chan, and Naruto and Hinata-chan are going together."

"Is there any point in arguing her saying our names?" Sasuke asked.

"I don't think there is."

"But more importantly," Ino said. She cleared her throat, stood up, and looked around the courtyard where most people were enjoying their lunch. "SABUKO NO GAARA HAS A CRUSH ON AKIMOTO-CHAN." She yelled.

"Desert Funeral," Gaara muttered, sand inching towards Ino.

"Not on school grounds," Temari reminded him. "Wait a bit."

**XxX  
End Flashback  
XxX**

"We're not on school grounds," Gaara reminded them.

"But we're on a mission, so you can't hurt us," Sakura said, smiling triumphantly while Ino nodded in agreement.

"This mission won't take long," Neji assured them. "And we're not going on school grounds when we're done."

"Oi! You four! Get over here," Naruto called to them, and they quickly ran over to where the rest of their friends stood.

"Everyone has to follow these instructions very carefully," Tenten said to the huddled group. "If _anyone _messes up, we have another Sasuke mess on our hands."

"Does it really have to be named after me?"

"Hai. Now, does everyone know their assignment?" the group nodded. "Alright, remember only smack the ones with cameras."

"Yokai!"

And so it began.

"NEJI-SAN PUT A SHIRT ON!" Sakura yelled.

"It's too hot to train with it on," Neji countered, though currently he was leaning against a tree, fully clothed.

"Neji-nii-san, you're causing a scene." Hinata said, reading a book.

"I think they're coming," Naruto whispered, though it was in what most people would call a normal speaking voice.

"Good," Tenten said, getting into her position. Everyone else got into their preplanned hiding spots, but close enough they could still see what was going on.

"I think he was this way," they heard a random girl say, walking right under the tree Akimoto was sitting in.

"Wow, Tenten-chan was right," Sakura muttered to Ino. Why they were by each other, I don't know. But I'm pretty sure this is going to end badly, then again, it's not like I'm writing the story… oh wait….

"Neji-kun? Training without a shirt on?" Another voice asked.

"That's what I heard!"

"There he is… wait… he's got his shirt on…"

Another girl shushed her and the group of fan girls watched as Tenten walked over to Neji and the two began to talk.

"I can't hear what they're saying," one girl whined.

Akimoto sighed to herself and jumped out of the tree, "will you guys be quiet!" she snapped. "Neji-san has awesome hearing, and Tenten-chan's aim hardly ever misses its target."

"And you are?" one of the fan girls hissed.

"Not important, now do you want to know what they're saying or not?" the group nodded. "Ok then, follow me," she went around a path that had a lot of sand on it, but no one else thought it was strange, yet.

Akimoto finally came to a stop and 'accidentally' pushed a branch that began to wave like there was no tomorrow. While the people following her didn't notice, a certain pink and blonde duo did, and gave a thumbs-up to Naruto, who threw a small pebble at Neji's head.

"So Tenten…" he started, wondering vaguely how many ways this could go wrong. "Who are you going to the dance with?"

"Haven't decided yet."

"I think that's a lie," Neji said, hoping that was the right thing he was told to say.

"It is? Then whodid I decide to go with?"

"Well he's…" he was forgetting what he was supposed to say. "Strong, has awesome eyes, doesn't talk much… do you remember him?"

"Nope… keep telling me about him, maybe I will."

"He's been your best friend since grade school, you still haven't managed to beat him in a fight, and he's helplessly in love with you."

"He could be talking about Rock Lee," one girl said to her friend who was crying uncontrollably.

"Rock Lee doesn't have awesome eyes and he does talk!" the girl wailed. "And he's in love with the weirdo with the huge forehead!"

"MY FOREHEAD ISN'T THAT BIG!" was heard for miles around.

"Sakura you just ruined the whole plan!" Ino yelled back at her.

"I don't care! Whoever said that is going down!"

"Plan?"

"What plan?"

"I think this was all a set-up."

"CODE RED WE'VE GOT AN INTELLIGENT FAN GIRL!" Naruto yelled.

"Plan B! Switch to Plan B!" Sasuke ordered.

"Akimoto, get out of the way," Gaara warned. Akimoto jumped just in time as a gigantic net fell from the treetops and landed on the poor fan girls.

"You know Neji-kun," Tenten said, admiring the site of innocent people trapped and looking like they might murder them if they ever got free. "I don't think that any of what you said was in the script."

"It wasn't!" Ino said, sounding delighted.

"Neji-san admitted that he loves Tenten-chan!" Sakura said, jumping in excitement.

"First Gaara and now Neji," Sasuke said. "What's going on here…"

"You said you liked me Sasuke-kun," Sakura said, enveloping him in a hug which he only slightly attempted to get out of.

"Shika-kun!" Ino yelled. "Good job at not falling asleep!"

Shikamaru jumped down from yet another tree. "It's not that hard to drop a met when Sasuke says 'Plan B'. And no one can sleep through all this yelling."

"EWWWWWWW," was heard from the 'Fan Girl Net of Doom'. It took a minute to see what they were going on about, but it was pretty obvious. It turns out fan girls don't like being trapped where they have to watch the boy they're obsessed with kissing some other girl with unrealistically neat buns in her hair. Who knew?

"Well… do you have any comments on this Ino?"

"Not one Sakura."

"They're too shocked to use each other's nicknames," Akimoto pointed out.

"I think I'm going to be sick," Sasuke said, Sakura still hugging him.

Gaara's left eye was twitching again.

"Sakura-chan, maybe you should start doing _that _to Sasuke and his fan girls would leave us alone." Naruto's head still hurts from that statement.

**XxX**

**I would like to say that the Gaara's eye thing did have a purpose and would later be important, but I would be lying, yeah. Also, I'm a Deidara fan girl, and have been driving my family (and anyone who talks to me on MSN) nuts by ending yeah to the end of all of my sentences, yeah. And for people who don't know but don't want to ask, yokai means roger, yeah.**

**To the person requesting the Mary Sue: Now I'm curious. Did you get all of your friends to request that she be added too? I've got about twenty (surprise, surprise) _anonymous_ reviews saying that the girl does sound cool, yeah. And they all call Akimoto by her nickname that Mustard-Gal and I call her. She's only called that in author's notes. And it's kind of creepy when a whole bunch of people call her Aki-chan who I don't think have ever read the story (in fact, the only time I don't think it's weird is when angel1357, Mustard-Gal, or myself call her that). But my answer still stands. _No._ Besides, I'm ending this story soon anyway, yeah.  
**

**Oh, and Temari can't be in love with the brother. The votes are in, ItaTem won a bunch of votes.**


	20. Gaara's Birthday NOT A CHAPTER

**HAPPY BIRTHDAY GAARA! So yeah, short little chapter in honor of everyone's favorite panda-kun!**

**PLEASE DO NOT READ THIS CHAPTER. I'm not joking, it's just not right. After the warning, you really should stop reading. The first half isn't bad, but after that, it's just not right. You will lose IQ points and any sanity you might have had from reading after my mid-chapter author's note.**

**XxX  
Birthday Chapter  
XxX**

"The dance is tomorrow."

"Really? We hadn't noticed," was Tenten's response.

"But you don't understand," Ino said.

"What doesn't she understand, because I don't think I do either," Akimoto asked.

"Forehead-chan, the girl we all put up with for reasons unknown, is not officially going to the dance, with Sasuke-kun."

"Give it a rest Ino-pig," Sakura said, shaking her head.

"Explain to me why I'm here," Gaara said.

"Because, you and Sasuke-kun think alike," Ino explained. "You're both emotionally constipated, have a strange need to kill people, and are madly in love with a strange and extremely creepy girl."

"I'm the only one in this room she hasn't called strange or creepy," Tenten said, sharpening a kunai.

"I'll take offence to it later," Akimoto said, eyeing the pointy object that seemed to be _begging _her to throw it at someone—er thing…

"I'm not madly in love with anyone," Gaara stated.

"She won't believe you, just give up," Sakura stated.

"Now, Gaara… Gaara-san… Gaara-kun… panda-kun… chibi-panda-kun…" Ino said, just listing off ways to say his name, wondering why she wasn't dead yet.

"It sounds creepy when someone other than Akimoto-chan calls him Gaara-kun," Tenten pointed out.

"Chibi-panda-kun? Where did you come up with that?" Akimoto asked.

"I think that chan would work better in this case," Sakura said.

"Chibi-panda-chan… it does sound better…" Ino agreed.

"I know a better animal though," Sakura continued. "It also starts with a 'p'…"

"But we're getting sidetracked. Gaara, we need to know exactly how your mind works."

"It starts with sand," Gaara said slowly. "Then there's you," he nodded in Ino's direction. "Then there's sand creeping towards you. Then there's you completely covered in sand. Then there's your guts flying everywhere as the sand tightens around you, slowly crushing you."

"You just had to ask…" Akimoto muttered.

"Ino, recite rule number 15 of being in this group," Tenten commanded.

"Fine… let's see… 'Never, under any circumstances, ask Gaara what is going on in his mind, because not everyone wants to know'. But I think it's a stupid rule."

"I didn't know we had rules," Gaara mentioned.

"No, _you _don't have rules," Sakura explained. "But Tenten-chan gave Ino and me a list of things we weren't allowed to say or do…"

"Though… I'm pretty sure…" Ino started

"Rule four…"

"But we don't listen…"

"Ever."

"Stupid rule…"

"If you know…"

"Exactly!"

"Do I even want to know what rule four is?" Akimoto asked.

"Rule four… rule four… oh yes 'no speaking two or less words at a time, it freaks everyone else out'." Tenten answered.

"How many rules are there?" Akimoto asked.

"20, and maybe someday they'll be listed in another story along with an explanation of Sakura-chan's hair color and Gaara's eye, but they shan't be in this one."

"What are you talking about?" Gaara asked.

"Since when do you say shan't?" Ino added.

"Just tell her so that she'll shut up," Sakura was heard. She handed her phone to Ino, who began talking on it, everyone else briefly wondered weather anyone was actually on the other end of the phone line.

"Sasuke-kun thinks I need a life, and says that if anyone talks to him about the dance again, then… well… I'd rather not repeat that."

Dark looks were exchanged.

Now, for all of you readers (and reviewers, for those who don't review will have their eyes taken out by penguins with sporks), this is the part where I run out of things to say and typically stop writing for about a month. It is around then when I suddenly remember that I had part of the chapter typed and should probably finish. But since I'm only writing this because it is Gaara's birthday, I'm forcing myself to continue writing to have this posted on time. I'm not even sure _why _I'm updating when I could just write a oneshot in honor of this wonderful occasion, but I am. Now, enough of my mindless babbling, **_this is the part of the story where all people who have an ounce of sanity left stop reading or that sanity will surely leave them. The rest of this is terribly OOC and just plain weird in all ways imaginable. PLEASE! I'M BEGGING YOU! STOP READING NOW! _**You have been warned.

"I have the sudden urge to scream 'Everlite' as loud as I can…" Ino said.

"Gaara looks like a cross between a panda and a deranged serial killer…" Tenten thought out loud.

"That's because he is," Akimoto said solemnly.

"It's true," Ino and Sakura said, sounding like the little alien dudes off of Toy Story that live in the claw machine.

"Candy Mountain, Charlie, Candy Mountain," Gaara kept repeating. "You have to go in the Candy Mountain Cave… it's a magical bridge…"

"DAMN YOU CHIBI-PENGUIN-CHAN!" Sakura shouted. "IT'S HIS BIRTHDAY AND YOU'RE MAKING US ALL INSANE!"

"Forehead? Were you arguing with the narrator… er… I mean authoress…"

"George, George, George of the Jungle, strong as he can be," someone started singing. Take your pick who, I don't care at the moment.

There was a knock at the door from whoever's house they were located at that moment. "I'll get it," Sakura said.

There at the door was standing their entire group of friends, along with two people they hadn't seen before. "Hello, my name is Akina Andrews," the weirdo girl introduced herself.

"Andrews, that's a weird name," Ino pointed out.

"Oh, that's my surname, you see, I'm what you'd call a 'Mary Sue', and I ignore any part of Japanese culture and say my surname last because I'm that great."

"I'm her younger brother Darius Andrews," the boy with them introduced.

"He's a year younger then the rest of you," Temari explained. "But since he's charming, I'm going to ignore the fact that he's _at least four _years younger than me, and I'm now completely in love with him. So Ino-chan, that means that we don't have to be rivals because I've suddenly given up on Shikamaru!"

"Really?" Ino asked, her eyes shimmering with happiness. "In that case, Temari-chan, you're my new best friend!" Gai and Lee are still jealous of the sunset background that appeared when Ino and Temari suddenly embraced, tears streaming down their face because they didn't like the same boy anymore. I mean really, all the times they spent arguing and fighting with each other, will just magically disappear because of the sudden appearance of two overly unrealistic people.

"Let's ignore them for a moment, and focus on me," the girl named Akina said. "Since I'm here, that means all of you girls, aren't important anymore. Because, not only am I suddenly popular just by showing up, but now everyone's in love with me. But, only Neji will show it."

"That's right," Neji said, grinning widely and striking a 'nice guy' pose. "My personality is now gone, and I've decided to let all of my emotions show, so I'll declare it now, I LOVE THIS STRANGE GIRL WHO JUST APPEARED TEN MINUTES AGO!"

"That makes you _my _rival!" Tenten yelled. "I HATE YOU! Even after years of Neji and I knowing each other and building a relationship, your sudden presence has made him forget that we've been friends since we were eleven!"

"But it's not just you," Naruto said, his voice sounding like the announcer guy from a game show. "Since she's here, we also like her. We just don't show it. So even though Hinata-chan and I look so cute together, I'm still going to mentally fawn over this girl!"

"N-N-Naruto-kun…" Hinata said, her eyes shining with tears. Her sadness suddenly became anger. "I DON'T CARE IF WE'RE SUPPOSED TO LIKE EACH OTHER ACCORDING TO THE DESCRIPTION OF YOU GIVEN BY THE GIRL WHO MUST BE ON SOME FORM OF DRUG!" Yelled Hinata in an extremely out of character way. "I've liked him since I was a little kid, YOU WILL NOT SURVIVE!"

"I've worked too hard to gain Neji-kun's affection for you to ruin it now," Tenten said, grabbing weapons.

"No way is Sasuke-kun going to start thinking your beautiful when he hardly even acknowledges me," Sakura said, also crowding around the useless Mary Sue.

"GET HER!"

"Hello everyone, Nara Shikamaru here. My job for the next five minutes or so is to keep you entertained as the two 'Andrews' siblings are beaten to a bloody pulp for being way to perfect. Now, if you were wise you wouldn't even know this is happening, instead you would have listened to the warnings that reading this story was bad for you. It comes from the mind of a 15-year-old at exactly 2:00 in the morning because she wanted to get this up because she's an obsessive Gaara fan girl. So really, no one should actually know this is happening because if they do, they haven't listened to instructions. Now, I must leave so that the group and I can dispose of the two dead bodies now lying on the floor. Goodbye, and stop reading for the love of kami-sama."

**XxX**

**I'm thinking 'Leaf High side stories' will tell the story of Gaara's left eye and the list of twenty rules. My female parental unit and I have already discussed briefly the basis of Sakura's hair/Gaara's eye twitch.**

**But onto more important matters, you should have listened to me the first two times, and if you read Shikamaru's speech, then you should know that I am deeply disappointed in you. Also, I don't care if you flame this chapter until it explodes, I would too. It's not funny, it's just creepy. But this is what happens when I'm in a bad mood and near a keyboard. Rants come out, and this time part of a story. But you guys shouldn't know that, because I told you to stop reading.**

**Penguin**


	21. Chapter 19: Party!

**He is a ninja, with hobbit hair… so yeah, I'm writing this on kaa-san's laptop while I'm at the dojo with nii-san... but that boy is making hard to concentrate…**

**Oh yeah, I'm terrible at descriptions. So you're warned. Also, if you want a description of Sakura's room, read the first half of my story 'Penguins'.**

**XxX  
Party!  
XxX  
**

"Forehead! Hurry up; we're going to be late!"

"I'm coming! Keep your skirt on!"

Sakura was lying. She wasn't coming. Or at least, not exciting her excellently decorated room, instead she was debating weather she liked how she looked. She wore a dress. That was pink. That's all I'm telling you, because I suck at descriptions. Her hair was up in a messy bun, and she was wondering vaguely wondering if Tenten was wearing her hair in her regular style, or if she even dressed up at all.

"FOREHEAD! IF YOU DON'T GET DOWN HERE NOW I'M GOING TO BREAK INTO YOUR ROOM AND YANK YOU OUT BY YOUR ODDLY COLORED HAIR!"

"ALRIGHT!" Sakura yelled back. "Why are you here anyway?"

"I'll tell you when you get your butt down here!"

"You're so impatient," Sakura muttered as she descended the stairs. Sparing a glance at Ino's powder blue skirt and something else… I don't remember though… I'm pretty sure she was wearing a shirt…

"Well, Sasuke-kun called Shika-kun to tell him that Naruto ran a bike into his car, which didn't sound like much, but Neji-san said that Naruto somehow managed to crack the windshield, but Tenten-chan—,"

"Ok, I get it," Sakura interrupted her babbling friend.

The two exited the house, managing to escape Sakura's mom who seemed to think that she needed at least a hundred pictures of both of them, even though it wasn't that special of an occasion.

"I still can't believe what happened with Neji-san and Tenten-chan," Ino said as they climbed in the back of Shikamaru's vehicle.

"I can't believe you're still gossiping about it," Shikamaru muttered. "Troublesome."

"You're speeding," Sakura said, glaring as she and Ino continued talking about their friends, choosing to ignore Shikamaru's comments.

"Why am I chauffer again?" he asked himself as he pulled in front of Akimoto's house.

"Because you love hanging out with us," Ino informed him. "Hey, Akimoto-chan's already outside; we won't have to wait forever like with Forehead."

"Drive, and drive fast," Akimoto said as she climbed in the car. "I want away from this house."

"She doesn't care if I'm speeding," Shikamaru pointed out as they drove towards the general direction in which their educational building was located.

"What's wrong with your house Akimoto-chan?" Sakura asked.

"I have a brother."

"Oh I'm so sorry," Ino said, giving her friend a reassuring pat on the back.

"Troublesome."

"What was he doing?" Sakura asked.

"He was… chanting…"

"Nani?"

"He kept saying 'Nee-chan has a boyfriend, nee-chan has a boyfriend'. It's getting on my nerves."

"Well…" Sakura started.

"Not yet anyway," Ino joined.

"Soon though."

"Oh very."

"You'd think…"

"But he is…"

"True."

"She has."

"Hai… demo…"

"We're here," Shikamaru announced. "Thank kami-sama…"

**XxX**

"I knew attendance was mandatory… but I'm kind of scared…"

"Hey, I half expected him to come in just long enough for Tsunade-sama to see him, and then leave…"

"You have to admit though…"

"He looks… WHO'S THAT WITH HIM?!"

"Her hair is weird…"

"And what's with her forehead?"

"THAT'S HARUNO SAKURA!"

"Why is she with Sasuke-kun?"

"Maybe, just maybe, because they like each other," came the comment of a would-be sane person.

"How would… you… know…" strange huh, fan girls seem to stop bad mouthing someone when Sabaku no Gaara is standing behind them.

"They're our friends, right Gaara-kun?" he nodded in response, glaring at the girl who was acting so rude. This was supposed to be a fun and happy time damnit! Oh yeah… language… K+ fic… bad me…

"Um… I like this song… let's go…" and with that the Sasuke fan girls fled never to be seen… ever again. Muahahaha!

"Everyone's paired off…" Sakura mentioned, looking at her friends. "Ino is forcing Shikamaru to dance with her, Naruto's at the snack bar with Hinata-chan, Tenten-chan and Neji-san are… doing… something… and Akimoto-chan and Gaara are scaring fan girls."

"So where's Sasuke?" Temari asked, scowling at Ino who had succeeded in her task.

"He said he was going to go do something…" Sakura answered. "He didn't actually tell me…."

"Normally I'd say that you shouldn't trust a guy like that, but it's Sasuke… so you wouldn't listen anyway."

"If I listened to people when they told me that, I would have given up a long time ago."

"Wait… am I not part of everyone?"

"What do you mean Temari-san?"

"You said that everyone was paired off, but I'm stuck here talking to you until your date shows up again." Temari crossed her arms, and glared even more at Ino. "And I'm not sure if I approve of my little brother sitting that close to someone."

"Oh yeah… I guess I always figured you and Ino would always be fighting over Shikamaru…" Sakura remembered. "And Akimoto-chan has fallen asleep on his lap before; I really don't think them sitting down talking is that big of a deal."

"Hello," said an emotionless voice from behind them.

"Itachi-san," Sakura said, startled at his presence. "W-what brings you here?"

"I have to dance with someone before I'm allowed to leave here," he looked directly at Temari as he said this.

"Looks like I'm paired off," she said to Sakura as she followed the completely and totally awesome weasel onto the dance floor as the authoress died of jealousy.

"Gaara-kun, isn't that Temari-san?"

"With Sasuke's brother?"

"That'd be the one…"

"Well… she did like fans…" Gaara said, referring to his sister's gigantic weapon.

"Oh look, Sakura-chan got Sasuke-kun to dance with her… come on Gaara-kun," she pulled him to his feet. "Everyone else is on the dancing, so we're going to too."

"No."

"Yes."

"I refuse."

Akimoto kissed his cheek, "Please Gaara-kun."

"Fine."

It was a cute night. Sakura kept playing with the necklace Sasuke had given her causing her to blush every so often. Hinata fainted when Naruto asked her to slow dance, but only the first time. Itachi didn't get to stay very long because he was attacked by fan girls (Uchiha curse), but Temari managed to knock a few out. Neji and Tenten ran off somewhere. Shikamaru only called Ino troublesome twice. And Sabaku no Gaara got his first kiss.

**XxX**

**IT KILLS ME TO WRITE THIS!! Too happy… too fluffy… and it's not even all that fluffy really… grrr… but anyway, maybe two more chapters… haven't decided yet… if anyone has requests as to what should happen in the last few chapters (other than pairing changes), feel free to leave a review, but remember, even if I do as you request, it might not turn out as you want (like… I don't know… requesting a Mary Sue…).**

**Itachi, Deidara, and Gaara… I'm seeing a pattern here… but I'm a fan girl, what can I say, yeah?**

**My fingers are frozen, so there are probably mistakes. I'll edit and replace the chapter later.**

**Chibi-Penguin-Chan**


	22. Chapter 20: Valentine's Day

'**Side Stories' will be out when I'm done with the actual story… Happy superficial and bogus holiday! In honor of this completely ridiculous day, I added fluff to most of the pairings… I was out of ideas for NejiTen, and I didn't want to add too much of Shika/anyone so that I wouldn't offend the other pairing preference. **

**I promised myself I'd update… but its hard because I'm mad at all the males in this from a _different _fanfic… so I had to watch about a million AMVs to make up for it… but Everlite's work is worth it…**

**XxX**

"Did you have fun at the dance, Hinata-chan?"

"It was really fun, N-Naruto-kun," she responded, blushing and pushing her pointer fingers together.

"You looked really nice in your dress…" Naruto said awkwardly. "We should do something like that again sometime…"

"KAWAII!" was all they heard before millions and millions of video cameras were shoved in their faces to record them from all different angles. I mean, what the inside of Hinata's nose looks like is extremely important. Alright… so Sakura yelled kawaii and continued on her way… but there could have been cameras!

"I'd l-like that N-N-Naruto-kun," Hinata said, now blushing furiously because of her friend's outburst.

"Dattebayo! Let's go get some ramen now!" and he led the shy heiress with the incredibly awesome eyes away to eat ramen.

**XxX**

"It's a useless holiday. I don't want your chocolate." Sasuke said for what seemed like the millionth time that day… it was actually the two millionth, but he was in a good mood.

"Demo Sasuke-kun!"

"I thought Gaara scared away all the fan girls Sasuke-kun," Sakura said, walking up behind him resting her head on his shoulder.

"So did I… I think they might have multiplied…"

"That means they're breeding!" Sakura gasped. "But with who…?"

"For all I know they've made clones of me."

"Are you done talking with the girl with the huge forehead yet? We've all got a lot of chocolate to give to our true love."

"Oh find a new true love," Sakura snapped. "He's taken."

"Surely not by you." fan girls these days… you'd think they'd write 'Deidara's Girl' as their MSN name or something… I mean Sasuke! Sasuke… yeah…

"Naruto's kage bunshin no jutsu would really come in handy right now," Sakura said, sighing at the advancing fan girls who were determined to give their beloved Sasuke-kun his present.

"Or I could just turn around and walk away. They're too weighed down by their gifts to follow."

"Good point, but I would rethink the 'walking' part, some of these aren't carrying anything too heavy…"

"Sounds like a plan. Where should we meet?"

"I think everyone else is at Akimoto-chan's house, so that's where I'm headed."

"I'll see you there."

**XxX**

"It's not that bad Neji-kun," Tenten said, trying not to burst into laughter.

"Tenten is right! It is very youthful!" Lee exclaimed, striking a nice guy pose while his shinny teeth pinged (even though poing is so much better…)

"This is ridiculous."

"Fate has decided that you're going to put up with it," Tenten said firmly.

"Such youth from my students!" Gai shouted, because he doesn't actually talk, he yells (and scares people).

"Fate has nothing to do with this," Neji said, ignoring his female teammate.

"Oh, but fate has something to do with _everything._"

"But what about youth?!" Lee asked, offended.

"Lee is right!" Gai said.

"Gai-sensei!"

"Lee!"

But before they could get to their embrace and sparkles with sunset background complete with waves, something happened that interrupted. Something scarier than two spandex wearing men with weird hair and shinny teeth that sparkle just like the stars in space. It was _the return of the Neji fan girls! _

"How did you get out of the net?" Tenten asked.

"Neji! Tenten! My students, you two trapped these girls in a _net?!_"

"We had help…" Neji said, not in explanation though…

"It's true Gai-sensei," Tenten said. "We did it as a test."

"A test of what?" Gai asked, angry that his students were trapping innocent girls in a net of some sort.

"We wanted to test… our youth."

"Tenten! Neji! I'm so proud!" Gai suddenly brightened at the news of his student's youth training. He'd almost given up on them…

"I'm not hugging you." Neji said flatly.

"Since my rival was testing his youth without me, I shall prove that I am worthy by defeating all these girls by myself!" Lee exclaimed.

"You do that," Tenten said. "I'm going to Akimoto-chan's house."

"I'll join you," Neji said, and the two ran off into the sunset holding hands as sparkles surrounded then and angels sang their blessing.

Ok, I lied. They walked to their friend's house discussing jutsus and weapons.

**XxX**

"He's my baby brother! I don't want him kissing some random girl!"

"I'm not that random…" Akimoto pointed out. "You've known me for how long?"

"And I'm not a baby."

"Temari-san, you're over reacting," Sakura said calmly.

"He was making out with some girl!"

"Which girl was this?" Akimoto asked, slightly afraid at what Temari might do if she got mad enough.

"Think of it this way," Naruto said, deciding his words of wisdom would do some good right now. "At least it was a girl." Ok, so not much wisdom, but it calmed Temari down a bit…

"YOU'RE WORSE THAN INO!" I lie a lot… she didn't calm down much.

"Ino-pig would've just called you insane," Sakura pointed out. "At least Naruto's trying to help the situation."

"Where is Ino-chan?" Akimoto asked, going with anything to divert the attention away from her and the panda boy.

"Probably cloud watching with Shikamaru," Tenten said, flipping through a weapon's catalog thingy. "She said something about it earlier… don't really remember though…"

"Tenten-chan can speak in dots."

"I don't like dots, they bug me," Hinata said, speaking up for the first time.

"But Naruto doesn't?" someone asked. Could be anyone really, except Naruto, he doesn't usually insult himself.

"That's it! I'm leaving!" and Naruto ran off… to his house I assume, because the next time we saw him…

**Chibi Aki has just signed in.**

**Sandman: **hey Akimoto

**Pink Petals: **Akimoto-chan!

**Mind Caster: **Someone who isn't as insane as us is on!

**Chibi Aki: **hi everyone…

**Silent Whisperer: **They're just bored

**Weapons Mistress: **That's a lie Hinata-chan. They're not JUST bored, they're also weird, creepy, and belong in an asylum.

**Chibi Aki:** We ALL belong in an asylum, Tenten-chan.

**Sandman: **not all of us

**Pink Petals: **Which one doesn't?

**Mind Caster: **Hinata-chan… Shika-kun… and I think that's about it…

**Chibi Aki: **What about Temari-san?

**Mind Caster: **What about her?

**Sandman: **I'm not against killing you.

**Pink Petals: **he's protective of his big sister! Kawaii!

**Weapons Mistress: **Why do I belong in an asylum?

**Chibi Aki: **you hang out with us, you're obsessed with weapons, and you like Neji-san.

**Weapons Mistress: **You're right, because liking GAARA is SO much better.

**Sandman: **I'm still here

**Chibi Aki: **I never said that I DIDN'T belong in the asylum.

**Dark Avenger has just signed in**

**Pink Petals: **Sasuke-kun is normal enough!

**Silent Whisperer: **his life dream is to kill his brother…

**Dark Avenger: **should I even ask?

**Sandman: **they're deciding who doesn't belong in the crazy house. So far the list is at Hinata, Temari, and Shikamaru.

**Dark Avenger: **Hinata already said there wasn't anything wrong with hating a family member, so I don't see why she's arguing the fact now.

**Silent Whisperer: **that's not exactly what I said Sasuke-san.

**Pink Petals: **Sasuke-kun, you're scaring the poor girl.

**Mind Caster: **Don't worry Hinata-chan, we'll save you from the big bad avenger.

**Chibi Aki: **HAI!

**Weapons Mistress: **Like Sasuke could even lay a finger on her without Neji-kun going ballistic…

**Pink Petals: **overprotective…

**Mind Caster: **Sister…

**Pink Petals: **But I thought…

**Mind Caster: **not personality

**Pink Petals: **tragic either way

**Mind Caster: **Though Naruto

**Pink Petals: **YOU JUST SAID!

**Mind Caster: **well, you're also

**Pink Petals: **true enough

**Mind Caster: **so which?

**Pink Petals: **in this case?

**Mind Caster: **either one

**Sandman: **anyone have a clue what they're talking about?

**Chibi Aki: **similarities between you and Neji-san

**Weapons Mistress: **in contrast to you and Naruto.

**Silent Whisperer: **the point of Neji-nii-san and Gaara being the over protectiveness of Temari and myself.

**Sandman: **…

**Dark Avenger: **How do you know this?

**Pink Petals: **because!

**Mind Caster: **they're all

**Chibi Aki: **smart enough

**Weapons Mistress: **to figure out

**Silent Whisperer: **a conversation being held by idiots.

**Pink Petals:** Not funny Hinata-chan.

**Sandman: **I found it amusing…

**Hokage of Ramen has just signed in.**

**Hokage of Ramen: **OI MINA!

**Silent Whisperer: **hello Naruto-kun

**Dark Avenger: **he wasn't on the list, was he?

**Pink Petals: **which one? The one that belongs, or doesn't?

**Dark Avenger: **the one that doesn't.

**Mind Caster: **We're not stupid Sasuke-kun

**Pink Petals: **of course he's going to an asylum.

**Hokage of Ramen: **WHY DO I NEED TO GO TO AN ASYLUM?

**Pink Petals: **its just a joke Naruto.

**Chibi Aki: **sorry about this guys, but kaa-san says I have to go.

**Pink Petals: **You're… leaving us…

**Mind Caster: **abandonment hurts.

**Hokage of Ramen: **but being told you belong in an asylum doesn't?

**Chibi Aki: **they also said that they belong there too, Naruto-kun.

**Hokage of Ramen: **REALLY?

**Silent Whisperer: **I'd visit you if you got sent to an asylum, Naruto-kun.

**Hokage of Ramen: **Thanks Hinata-chan!

**Chibi Aki: **I really have to go now guys.

**Dark Avenger: **then why are you still here?

**Chibi Aki:** Good bye to you too, Sasuke-kun.

**Sandman: **see you tomorrow Akimoto-chan

**Chibi Aki: **ja ne Gaara-kun

**Chibi Aki: **and everyone else

**Chibi Aki has just signed out.**

**XxX**

**I raised the rating… though I really shouldn't have to because no one _should _know about the death…**

**Just so everyone's aware, by my time it is Valentines Day today. So technically I'm not a day late…** **also, I'd like to say a big happy (late) 18th birthday to nii-san! I'd invite you all to the party, but I don't think I'm allowed to invite people… especially ones he hasn't met… oh well. I'd also like to apologize for the inside jokes...**


	23. Chapter 21: And so it Ends

**Manga Spoiler: SASUKE-KUN!!!! FINALLY! I almost forgive you now. It's about time you defeated Oropimp!**

**END SPOILER: Had to get that out of my system… also, the new Naruto Shippuuden is out and it totally rocks! DEIDARA! And that ending song was amazing… I've already got a good chunk memorized… but enough with the awesomeness of the manga/anime, onto the LAST chapter of Leaf High.**

**XxX**

And it Ends 

**XxX**

"Gollum's dancing… it's not right…"

"Why are we watching weird American movies?"

"How did you know what else that guy played in?"

"Who's talking right now?"

"Can't you hear?"

"What are you guys doing?"

"Someone's kicking my head."

"Ok that's it," Temari said, thoroughly annoyed. "I'm turning on a light."

"My eyes!" Naruto whined as the room was filled with the nasty bright stuff.

"You're overreacting," Sasuke said, lightly nudging Sakura off of his arm where she'd been watching the movie.

"SHIKA-KUN WAKE UP!"

"No Sasuke," Tenten said, rubbing her temples in annoyance. "_That's _overreacting."

"Why did we suddenly stop watching?"

"It was scaring Akimoto," Gaara answered.

"Was not! You were the one whose eye was twitching."

"His left or right?" Temari asked immediately.

"I wasn't paying that much attention…" Akimoto confessed. Temari and Sakura exchanged meaningful glances, but didn't say another word about that matter.

"Why were we watching another weird movie in English?" Shikamaru asked, his ear bleeding from the sudden loud noise coming from a blonde girl who so _thoughtfully _screamed into it.

"It looked interesting when we started watching it," Sakura said handing him something to put over his ear.

"And someone let Ino have control of the remote," Neji added.

"Well if you guys could think of something more interesting to do, then I wouldn't have to watch old movies that make no sense."

"We could go out for ramen," Naruto suggested.

"We came here because we were done eating ramen, Naruto-kun," Hinata reminded her long time crush/stalking victim.

"I'm hungry again…" he complained quietly.

"That reminds me," Ino said suddenly, climbing to her feet and _accidentally _kicking Neji. "We do nothing interesting anymore."

"How did this happen?" Naruto said suddenly.

"How did what happen, Naruto-kun?" Hinata asked.

"This!" he gestured to the group of friends in general. The explanation made sense to him…

"Care to explain, dobe?" asked Sasuke.

"Look at Gaara. He's got a _living _human-type thing sitting by him, and she doesn't look the least big scared."

"Human-_type thing?" _the kid is a ninja who wears _bright orange _and yet she's being insulted.

"Leave Akimoto-chan alone and finish your story," Sakura instructed.

"Sasuke-teme is sitting on a sofa with _Sakura-chan_ and he hasn't called her annoying all day! There's something weird about that I tell you."

"N-Naruto-kun, they're just getting along better, we should he happy for them."

"Then there's Hinata-chan," Naruto continued. "She's almost stopped her stuttering, and she hasn't fainted in awhile. When did she become that perfect?"

"That's sweet in a creepy kind of way," Tenten commented.

Naruto eyed the weapons expert, "And you! Out of nowhere you started eating Neji's face!"

"Naruto-kun you're going to end up with your head above someone's fireplace if you don't stop soon," Akimoto warned him. It isn't wise to make Gaara, Sasuke, and Neji mad all at once… or at all really…

"Ino-chan's right," Sakura said, deciding to get off the topic of reasons to kill the poor fox boy. "The last time we did something insanely fun was when we trapped the fangirls in a net."

"And before that… we were at the beach…" Temari said, looking slightly angry at the memory.

"We should go there again!" Ino said. "That was fun."

"Sasuke-kun's driving!" Sakura yelled.

XxX 

"This brings back memories…" Sakura said, burying her feet in the warm sand.

"Of being spied on," Tenten pointed out.

Dark looks were shot at the boys who… well, Naruto I think might've been slightly worried…. His was the only expression that changed. Shikamaru was asleep, Gaara was just being awesome, and Sasuke and Neji were glaring at people who walked by them a little _too _slowly.

"I like the sand," Akimoto said after a silence became too weird. Since when was there _ever _a quiet moment in their group?

"Reminds me of home," Gaara said

"You should visit Suna someday, Akimoto," Temari said, stretching out and drawing random designs in the sand with a shell Ino had stepped on earlier. She decided she liked the shell. Though it had _nothing _to do with the pain it caused her… friend…. "There's sand everywhere there."

"It sounds nice," she replied.

"Gaara will probably end up running it someday," Temari continued. "After he graduates, that is."

"If Gaara becomes Kazekage then I'll defiantly become Hokage!" three guesses who.

"Naruto, you're standing on my foot," Ino complained, kicking him with her other. "I'm going to have to heal it now…"

"Does it really n-need it Ino-chan?" Hinata asked as Naruto sat back down. Ino muttered something about it not being _completely _ruined and that she could _possibly _walk again… or maybe she said it was fine… I forget… and lie… apparently.

"There aren't any good cloud watching spots in Suna," Shikamaru said, if merely to remind people he was there.

"You just haven't found them yet," Temari countered.

"There are tons in Konoha!" Ino pointed out. "You don't even have to look for them."

"Suna doesn't have as many annoying people," Gaara spoke in his awesomely awesome voice. "The people there don't argue two words at a time."

"Sounds nice and boring all at once," Tenten said. "It'd be nice not to have the twins over here," she jerked her thumb in Sakura and Ino's direction, "but then there wouldn't be anyone to make fun of."

"There's always Temari," Ino reminded her.

"Konoha is way better way better than Suna will ever hope to be, because I'm going to be in charge one day!" Naruto exclaimed, jumping to his feet once again and striking a nice guy pose worthy of Lee.

"Are there wannabe ninjas who dress in bright orange?" Sasuke asked. "If not, I'll move there."

Naruto and Sasuke once again started arguing, Naruto's voice carrying over the entire beach so everyone got _his _side of the argument, while Sasuke kept his calm, annoying Naruto even more.

"Sasuke-kun, buy me an ice cream," Sakura… asked? "There's a stand for them _way _over there. I'll even come with you!"

"Fine."

"I WASN'T DONE YELLING AT HIM YET!" Naruto hollered.

"You'll get him next time, Naruto-kun," Hinata said to soothe him. Naruto accepted the statement, and settled back down on the large beach towel beside the shy heiress.

It really was a nice day especially without Sasuke and Sakura present. Without them Naruto and Ino had no one to argue with, so were surprisingly calm. Shikamaru was taking the opportunity to catch up on his sleep, because he hadn't been getting a full 14 hours a day lately… poor lazy, genius, pimp…. Neji and Tenten were discussing youth and green spandex. Specifically, how it ruins people's minds. Gaara was just being awesome. Because let's face it, that's what happens when the person writing the story is an overly obsessive Gaara fan girl. Temari was talking to Akimoto about Suna and all the reasons why it was better than Konoha (the fact that Ino wasn't there was constantly brought up, which resulted in near arguments quiet frequently). Ino took her revenge by laying down beside Shikamaru and messing with his hair, which is awesome because it's like a pineapple.

"So once I'm Hokage, I want to have a son," Naruto was saying to anyone who would listen, meaning Hinata.

"Good to know there's never going to be another Uzumaki running around then," Neji said; glaring as Hinata's face turned bright red.

"What's that supposed to mean?!" Naruto yelled, jumping up.

"It means, dobe," Sasuke answered as he walked back up to the group, Sakura following, contently eating an ice cream cone. "That since you'll never become Hokage, you're never going to get an offspring. We thank kami-sama." A few people bowed their heads solemnly as if silently thanking kami-sama, others to hide their laughter.

"That's not funny teme!" Naruto shouted. As an answer, Sasuke nodded towards the people who were laughing, and very clearly thought it was funny.

Naruto looked around for an ally, "Hinata-chan, do you think I could be Hokage?"

"Kakashi-sensei did say that you could surpass Yondamie-sama," she said, not looking directly at Naruto.

"See! Hinata-chan believes in me!"

"She said you could possibly become Hokage," Sakura said slyly.

"She didn't mention that you could get married and have kids," Ino finished.

Naruto frowned, but Akimoto came to his rescue, "I'm sure you'll find _someone _who would be happy to marry you Naruto-kun. Maybe someone you already know…" then under her breath "someone with white eyes and purple hair."

Naruto didn't hear the last part, so took her statement the wrong way, "You're really nice Akimoto… demo…"

"Not me!"

"She likes Gaara," Tenten mentioned casually. "And I do believe she was referring to… I don't know… the girl who looks like she's got a nasty sunburn but only on her face."

"Tenten-chan!" Hinata squeaked, hiding her face in her hands, looking horrified.

"You guys mean Hinata-chan?" Naruto asked, finally putting two and two together and realizing it equals four.

"I'd be sarcastic… but I'm not sure it would be a good idea," Temari said, shaking her head.

"He wouldn't get it," Ino confirmed, though she regretted that she agreed with Temari. "I think I see… um… Chouji! Let's go see him, Shika-kun."

Shikamaru nodded and followed Ino. Weather Chouji was really there or not… well only Ino knows.

"She… agreed… with… me…" Temari said, twitching on the ground… or just shuddered and continued listening to the current conversation, you decide.

"I never liked Suna to be honest," Tenten said. "Not many trees for target practice."

"Which means fewer birds," Neji said simply. "And I don't think I'd be allowed to live anywhere else. Another problem with the Hyuuga clan…"

"If you wanted to, Neji-nii-san," Hinata said quietly. "I'd grant you permission once I'm head of the family. Then it'd be up to the Hokage."

"I'm ok with you moving away!" Naruto said, in what he assumed would make Neji happier, but instead he looked highly annoyed, though didn't say anything.

"I think it'd be nice to raise kids where we grew up," Sakura said. "Then we'd already know it was a good neighborhood."

"If Naruto's offspring are running around, it wouldn't be a very good place to raise other kids," Sasuke pointed out.

Naruto shouted an answer, Sasuke scoffed, Tenten rolled her eyes, Temari took a nap, Sakura shook her head in shame, Gaara built a sandcastle without using his hands, Akimoto dug a hole, and Hinata read a book. And that's how their day was. They hung out, Ino and Shikamaru came back (smelling strongly of barbeque chips), laughed at each other, talked about what they would do after graduation, and enjoyed each other's company (arguments and all). What more is there to say? They were friends. A bunch of misfits, ranging from a genius pimp to a psycho killer panda. Two sets of people with a best friend/rival relationship. A shy heiress that was hopelessly in love with a hyperactive blonde who only had a vague idea that she liked him, but made his life goal to make everyone else acknowledge him. A weapons obsessed girl with perfect buns and her best friend who hated his family, but was getting along a lot better with his cousin. A girl with an abnormally large forehead, dating a boy who could have any girl he wanted, but chose the annoyance over everyone else, though his life's ambition was still to defeat his brother. A poor lazy genius who had two bossy, yet beautiful, blonde girls constantly arguing over him, though he didn't seem to care too much. And then there was the new girl. The girl who managed to not only befriend all of these unique people and got along with them, but found herself falling for a boy who thought he loved himself and himself only.

They all fit. They argued, fought, made fun of each other, laughed at each other's mistakes, and put each other down. Yet that didn't matter. They got along. When it came right down to it, even Temari and Ino would put aside their differences and save the other if it came right down to it. Neji wouldn't dream of ever letting someone actually hurt the girl who he himself had attempted to kill, because even if their family was screwed up, he still loved his cousin. You couldn't find better friends than Sasuke and Naruto. That's what they were, though they'd never admit it. They were best friends, and would always be. Sasuke acknowledged Naruto when no one else would, and even if they aren't text book friends, there's not anyone could break apart their friendship. Tenten would always be there to break apart any minor disagreement that Ino and Sakura had, because let's face it, they'll never have a major one again. They can finish each other's sentences, fight and then the next day act as if nothing happened at all. You can't have that with someone and ever really hate them. Their friendship wouldn't ever end.

Neji and Tenten, Sasuke and Sakura. Proof that best friends can become more. **(A/N: insert remark that will surely offend H-chan when we discuss HP later here.) **True Sasuke repeatedly called Sakura annoying and ditched her frequently, and Neji didn't acknowledge most of Tenten's accomplishments, but in the end, they were friends, and more. Sasuke wanted someone to help him start a family, and Sakura wanted him to accept her. They worked well together. Neji and Tenten. It just works. Even in their training they just worked. She didn't miss a target; he needed someone to challenge him. He was apathetic and thought fate controlled ever aspect of life, while she didn't have a rule book to live by. They completed each other.

Then there's Gaara. Cold, unfeeling Gaara who fought only for himself, and didn't care if anyone died or not. Then she came along. Akimoto. Emotional, loved her gigantic swords, got along well with most everyone, and was loyal. It takes a special (or insane) kind of person to be able to love someone like Gaara. And though Akimoto's sanity could sometimes be questioned, she did manage to see past his cold personality, love of killing people, and (according to imouto-baka-chan) obvious creepiness.

To look at this group, now packing up beach supplies and getting ready to return home, one would think that they were just a normal group of people. But that was far from the case. This was the weirdest group of people in Konoha. But that didn't matter. Weird as they are, they're also the closest group of friends Konoha or Suna would ever know.

**XxX**

**And I find myself on the same laptop, in the same seat that I was in when I first started this story… watching the same kids wrestle, and listening to the same toddlers screaming. Some vacation… **

**I hope everyone enjoyed the story, I will eventually write a sequel I think…. Sorry for the cheesy ending, but I couldn't think of how to end this. Mustard-Gal requested another beach scene, so that's why it's reused. Not _only _because I'm that uncreative.**

**Thanks to Mustard-Gal for betaing, creating Akimoto, and being awesome. Don't forget to check out the AMVs and fanart made for this story (fanart by Mustard-Gal, AMVs by me). **

**Until the sequel,**

**Chibi-Penguin-Chan**


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